Ardent Fury
by woolabaloo
Summary: HMS Ardent is suddenly granted a second life, eager to serve and defend England again; however the shadows of her old life still bear weight and Ardent struggles to heal the wounds it left upon her. Semi-prologue for Great White fleet, though neither is necessary to understand the other, just keep in mind GWF starts in what will be this stories middle, though the focus is different
1. Chapter 1

Moisture dripped from where it collected along the edges of the steel catwalks that overlooked the dark pool, forming a series of steady drips downward. The splashes echoed on the concrete walls or fell with the soft pitter of water on canvas on the large Union Jack hanging from the center catwalks. The quiet scene was illuminated only softly through the small lantern resting on the catwalks above the flag.

"Oi, Rodney." a Scottish voice muttered in hushed tones, as if to avoid disturbing the room's ambience, "pass me some stout would ye?"

An unladylike grunt of acknowledgement replied, followed by the soft ringing of glass on glass and the light hiss of bubbling carbonation.

"My thanks," Edinburgh responded, glancing at the label before taking a hearty swig from the given beer. "Sure beats that finance briefing the rest of the poor girls are roped into," the cruiser muttered in exasperation. "I swear to God if they try to drag us down next year i'll just jam my sixes down my throat and pull the bloody trigger."

"Here's to that," Cumberland muttered, raising a half empty bottle in toast. "Course, that was your fault," she added, staring distractedly into the sloshing amber liquid at the bottom of her drink, "not sure what you're whining about."

"The fuck it was my fault!" Edinburgh retorted indignantly, raising her voice above the previously hushed discussion as she pilfered a new beer can from the remarkable large, but ever shrinking, pile of alcohol, "I've got better financial decisions than you lot." the cruiser defended, giving an accusatory point at her companion with a bottle filled hand.

"You dropped ten thousand quid not two weeks before!" Cumberland retorted, joining in on the raised voices and slamming her own alcohol down on the walkway, "the bloody hell did you expect, they were going to give you a medal?"

"Gold is an excellent wartime investment!" Edinburgh replied, her explanatory tone betraying her drunkenness. "It's one of those things that's always valuable. Worse comes to worse I lose a few hundred pounds to poor market planning. But I promise if I sell at the right time I'll make a killing." she pulled the tab on her can, "'sides, it looks cool all stacked up in me safe."

"Fucking hell," Rodney cried interrupting Cumberland's reply before it formed. The battleship raised herself up on unsteadily legs to lecture the pair of cruisers, gripping the railing with one hand and a pair of empty bottles in the other. "I thought we came up here to get pissed and avoid briefings, not to discuss fucking-" she stopped, clearly searching for a word as she swayed to and fro, "-discuss fucking money and shit."

The two cruisers stared for a minute at Rodney, the stocky redhead's attempts to look serious were mitigated by the constant rocking that had her crew tying down everything they could, which too was made more difficult by the amount of grog ration that had been distributed under Rodney's very explicit and firm orders.

Edinburgh's eye caught glimpse of a fairy throwing up off of Rodney's shoulder. One tiny hand held the gold shoulderboards that decorated the battleship's uniform, the other desperately tried to keep a cup of grog out of the projectiles way. "Fucking hell," the light cruiser slurred slightly, "and I thought I was drunk."

"I'm not that-" Rodney began angrily before stopping mid sentence with wide eyes and holding the back of her free hand up to her mouth. She swallowed what Edinburgh presumed to be bile and spent some time ensuring she had prevented the possibility of spillage before set her hand down again, "okay. I'm pretty drunk," the battleship conceded with finality.

Edinburgh let out an intoxicated giggle at the sight, "fucking hell Rodney slow down, it's not a race."

"Maybe we should head back before she blows something up." Cumberland giggled, joining in on the laughter through the beer bottle she still held close to her lips.

"And risk getting caught and having to keep her sober and quiet through the briefing?" Edinburgh asked, opening up another bottle with a sigh, "no, we've got the lesser of two evils right now lass, just let her have her fun."

Cumberland look unconvinced, but set down the now empty bottle and took another offering from the booze pile, signaling to Edinburgh that the debate was settled. "Hey Cumberland.-" the Scottish girl began.

A splash interrupted her thought.

"What the bloody fuck?" Edinburgh drunkenly wondered aloud, glancing about her surroundings, before settling a confused look on Cumberland. "What fell?" the Scot muttered, checking her immediate surroundings. Her fellow cruiser looked equally confused, until after a brief second of visual search Cumberland's eyes settled on Rodney.

"God damn it Rodney, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cumberland hissed, grabbing the metal rail of the walkway and raising herself on feet only moderately more steady than the battleship.

Rodney gave her a confused glance and released her hold on the bottle she was carrying, glass falling gracelessly into the dark waters below with a quiet splash. "Getting rid of the empties," Rodney explained matter of factly, shifting another bottle to her newly freed hand. "Don't want to carry them back."

"They're going to find them in the morning you daft bitch!" Edinburgh added angrily, picking up on the situation, "now we'll have to clean them up them in the dark." the light cruiser pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "I swear to fucking christ if I thought I could lift your heavy arse I'd send you down after."

"It's fine Edinburgh," Cumberland dismissed with a sigh and a placating gesture towards her fellow cruiser. "They don't try and summon more girls until the afternoon, I'll swing by in the morning."

Edinburgh looked unconvinced but let out a dejected sigh of acceptance, "god damn it Rodney, if your sister is half the pain in the arse you are when she arrives I'm torpedoing both of you."

"Hey, don't do that, I like my sister." Rodney commented, a twinge of sadness to her drunk and defensive tone, "she helped sink the Bismarck you know."

"That was King George," Cumberland countered, taking a seat again.

"Was it?" the battleship asked, her look and tone betraying genuine confusion.

"Yes Rodney, it was you and Georgie. Nelson never made it there in time." Cumberland confirmed.

"Oh, right." Rodney admitted, her tone carrying more of the slowly encroaching sad resignation. The battleship crossed her arms on the railing and staring down into the water as lantern light danced along its surface, she was silent for some time.

Edinburgh reached into her own trouser pocket, pulling out her smart phone, emblazoned with Scottish flag, and switched it on, scanning the screen "Hey I think the briefing is over." she muttered after glancing the screen over and flipping the phone off again. "We could probably head back soon."

Cumberland raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise, "Only two hours this year, cutting it short. Probably wanted to avoid another Destroyer riot."

Edinburgh laughed out loud, smiling at the memories, "Glowworm's speech on the desk almost made the whole affair worth it." She turned back to the battleship still standing behind her. "Hey Rodnol," she called teasingly, trying for the battleship's attention.

Rodney appeared unmoved, still staring quietly into the dark waters. Her uncharacteristic and sudden thoughtfulness drew an exchange of concerned glances from the two cruisers. "Hey guys." the battleship muttered finally, quietly breaking her silent search into the blackness. "I miss my sister."

What remained of Edinburgh's earlier grin quietly faded, the cruiser clutched her bottle between her legs and stared down into her drink as she took her own time to take the statement in with a sad sigh, "Me too Rodney. We all do."

"I'm just the idiot kid sister you know?" Rodney sadly reflected into the water, "I'm so fucking lost without her here."

"Here's to that." Cumberland quietly added, raising a half empty bottle in the air. "All us idiot kid sisters."

Edinburgh followed suit, "here's to that." the Scot echoed, raising her bottle and staring down into the liquid inside again. A half hearted smiled appeared on her mouth, "hey, but if the Japs summonings are anything to go by, they'll come around eventually."

Cumberland gave a melancholy nod, though Rodney said nothing, leading the trio to spend some time building thoughtful silence. Nothing but the return of the steady drips sounded in the expansive room for several long seconds.

"I know you never attended a summoning Rodney, but maybe give it a go." Cumberland suggested, suddenly breaking the silence. "It's her best chance at hearing you. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Hood." Edinburgh suggested out of hand, sloshing her beer around.

Cumberland gave a half hearted chuckle and smile, "Yeah. Hood was pretty bad." she agreed, bringing the her drink to her mouth.

The silence descended again, the three warships staring off and deep in their own individual thoughts and concerns. The sounds of sloshing beer as the cruisers finished their drinks replaced their previous conversation, joining in the steady drips.

"You know what! Fuck it." Rodney declared with drunken finality, suddenly stepping back from the railing and drawing surprised looks from her compatriots.

Ignoring the looks from her companions, the battleship returned to stare down into the dark pool beneath her, though her expression of melancholy was now replaced by a cocky grin. "Hey Neptune you there?! It's Rodnol!" She declared to the placid waters in a challenging tone. "You know? the one with the goofy turrets. You have a few things we need back from you you old cheeky bastard."

Edinburgh sent a confused look back to Cumberland, who returned an equally confused shrug.

"We've got some warships we need. The meanest toughest ones you've got!" Rodney drunkenly yelled into the cold unresponsive waters. "Right bastards who crack Nazi skulls and shit on Mussolini's cronies." she kicked a nearby bottle into the water to add effect to her outburst. "First on the list-" she began, continuing her rant before her words stopped frozen in her mouth, eyes growing wide.

"Oh fuck." Edinburgh echoed, her eyes caught by the waters beneath the platform.

The lantern's light began to wain, its electric bulb flickered and danced like a torch, blown by the sudden and bone chilling Atlantic squall that emanated from an unknown source. What caught the eyes of the three assembled warships however was that beneath Rodney's position on the platform, the now frothing water began to glow.

-xXx-

Ardent awoke with consciousness returning far more suddenly than it had abandoned her. She found herself opening her eyes to cold blackness, floating freely in an endless void. Vision blurry and eyes stinging, her instinct suppressed her shock and confusion. The destroyer searched frantically for any source of light in the cold water but was met by only darkness.

Her chest tightened, the same instincts began telling her to find the surface. Panicking and alarmed by the darkness, she picked a path at random, praying silently that her guess was right, she began pushing upward, churning water with awkward movements of her arms and kicking her feet upwards. Her chest burned as her new body demanded air but she pushed through the feeling, the desperation feeding her frantic movements through the water and her bid to escape.

By luck or providence, she breached the surface, clawing and flailing her way out of the cold saltwater pool in a violent coughing fit that brought the destroyer to her knees, hurling seawater out from her previously unused lungs in violent hacking breaths.

Her coughs abated and heavy labored breathing replaced them. Ardent took an unsteady step upwards and her worry deepened as she stared into the total darkness that continued even above the water's surface. Her breath slowly steadying and mental state slowly returning led to other fears. She raised her cannons, scanning her surroundings for danger, memories of her last days flooded back. Her eyes tracked the dark for movement, searching for the battle she had only just left.

But where before there was a pair of German battleships, now there was only unnatural darkness. She and her crew were alone.

No Germans

No Acasta

No Glorious

Her captain let out a hushed squeak of concern, gripping the railing on her bridge's edge as her lookouts searched for landmark or signal. Minutes stretched on, Ardent's breathing steadying slowly.

Suddenly, she heard the distinct sound of metal scraping on metal and snatched her head up in the direction. A hushed series of voices sounded out. First a pair of whispers talking in panicked tones briefly above her, then a third, serving only to hush the first two.

The destroyer raised her gun again and armed her torpedoes, searching for something to call out to before exposing her own position.

Ardent, searching diligently above and around her, never thought to search below. It was there an unseen opponent made their move. The sudden feeling of ghostly fingers brushing her ankle and a loud and sudden scream of startling fear and horror prompted the destroyer into action. Thrusting her turrets straight down ahead of her feet where the grasping hands originated from Ardent pulled the trigger, the noise and shock of impacting rounds and escaping gas sent a colossal fountain of water up before the destroyer, splashing down upon her exposed decks. It wasn't until the column settled and she slowed her panicked thoughts again that Ardent realized the panicked scream was her own.

She had little time to dwell on the exact nature of her subdued threat however, the darkness was suddenly replaced by a large concrete room coated in a deep crimson light which rotated around the chamber in conjunction with the shrill buzzing shriek of an alarm.

"Fucking leg it!" A Scottish voice screamed.


	2. Chapter 2: introductions

The blaring alarms refused to let up, while the streaking red lights that accompanied them, bathed the room in an uneasy crimson glow.

Ardent attempted to swallow her initial shock and confusion, though her breath still came in rapid worried gasps and her eyes still scanned her surroundings with a worried gaze.

The room was large, roughly the length of her steel hull and cast in bomb-resistant concrete, pillars of which strutted about the perimeter walls. In the center, taking over half the square footage of the chamber was a great pool of water, too deep for casual swimming and without a waterborne connection to the great hydraulic steel door on the far side, it seemed unlikely that it was a submarine pen or other indoor shipmaking facility.

Ardent gave a weary glance at the large entranceway and made a check for additional ones. Nervously she edged herself away from it, propellers biting a reverse course in the water as she drifted back further from the door.

Surveying the walkways above and the various alcoves of the room with her uneasy eyes, the destroyer increased her reverse speed, barreling backwards at full throttle, she clutched her cannons protectively to her chest, scanning for anything that may spring out against her.

For the second time since her confusing return to reality, Ardent dropped her watch of the waves in favor of focusing on elsewehere, and with a horrific grinding noise and a startled yelp, she felt her feet stop abruptly, carrying her momentum backwards, she tumbled helplessly through the air. Impacting the hard concrete with an ungraceful thud, she let out another startled yelp, this time squeezing the trigger of her turret in surprise at the impact, setting of her cannons with a second tremendous series of bangs.

The destroyer took a second moment to collect herself after the discharge and her sudden and painful crash, glancing down at her feet with a surprised expression , she first confirmed that she apparently _had_ feet and that, less surprisingly, the miniature propellers attached to them were not particularly good at chewing through concrete and had torn themselves to pieces on the edge of the pool, catapulting her on her rear.

Ardent grimaced and rubbed her wounded legs, groaning softly at the feeling. However her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a pneumatic hiss. A quick look at the large steel door and creaking pistons confirmed that someone had indeed noticed her. Ignoring the damage to her legs, the destroyer stood, taking a step towards the cover of the alcoves.

And promptly fell again, her fall broken by the lucky intervention of a concrete floor with another startled yelp.

Grimacing and groaning, the destroyer took to her hands and knees, crawling towards the shelter of the side alcoves as the great steel door began to hiss open, angry voices and the shouting of orders in an authoritative tone began echoing through the concrete walls behind her as Ardent slipped behind one of the pillars, praying she was unnoticed.

The sharp barks of soldierly voices stopped shortly after, though the accompanying men made no sound of maneuver. Pressing herself far into the corner, legs against her chest, Ardent could feel her heart beating rapidly against her thighs.

The alarm stopped, bright white lights hanging from the ceiling replacing the eerie red glow. A long silence descended, the destroyer daring not too abandon her post.

"Corporal, take your section forward. Can't let whatever's shooting up the place do what it pleases." A deep and conspicuously British man called out from the open entrance, breaking the silence in a very authoritative tone.

"Aye-sergeant major." Came the reply, echoing throughout the walls.

The sound of men moving from outside caused Ardent to press even herself even further into the alcove, her nervousness deepening.

"Belay that corporal." A female voice called out, light but carrying a clear awareness of the authority it apparently held over the unseen men. Ardent heard it address an individual, partially obscured by the voice no longer calling out directly into the chamber. "Sergeant Major, what the devil are you doing?"

"Securing the room ma'am," was the reply, if the individual felt pressure by the obvious admonishment, Ardent couldn't tell from the tone.

"Against what?"

"Not certain yet ma'am but two shots were fired," the very British sounding Sergeants Major explained, "we can't have something destructive running about the post unchecked."

The female voice betrayed no change of tone, "Sergeant Major, anything that comes out of that room shooting is either very scared or very angry, in either case, attacking it with L85s and British grit is probably not a very good approach."

The Sergeant Major let out a disgruntled harumph, audible even from Ardent's position, but made no vocal complaints in the English language.

"In any case," the woman continued, voice turning towards the interior of the room, "It seems it's either an ambush or you terrified the poor thing." Ardent began to hear footsteps, approaching slowly towards the pool. "Hello there?" The voice called. "It's quite alright, I'm here to help."

Ardent pulled her legs even further into her chest, the last echoes of the voice dancing around the walls, though her nervous breathing subsided as she took a deep breath. Steeling herself, the destroyer leaned carefully around the corner, peaking one eye around the edge of the pillar, stealing a glance for just a moment before retreating behind it again.

A woman, or as Ardent saw, a battlecruiser, stood at the edge of the pool as she surveyed the alcoves to the far side of the room, oblivious to the destroyer's stolen peek. The woman's garb contrasted the dull brown and greens of the assembled soldiers at the entranceway, a great blue jacket and the sword on her hip gave the look of an officer of Nelson's days, though the immaculate blonde woven bun on her head had more regal and Victorian bearing.

"Can I ask your name?" The woman asked the room, still oblivious to Ardent's location, "I'm Hood, perhaps we know each other?"

Ardent relaxed slightly at the familiarity of the name and confusion began replacing fear as the absurd nature of the statement set in and she spent several seconds pondering the battlecruiser's comment. A glance at her own hands and legs only deepend the confusion.

"Sergeant Major, bring your men back, our guest needs space." Hood called back behind her, breaking Ardent's line of thought as the men began making shuffling noises.

Ardent briefly hesitated again, before taking a deep breath, waiting for the shuffling to subside, "HMS Ardent," she called quietly from her alcove.

Footsteps began closing in and Ardent gave a look out of her shelter offering a nervous smile to the approaching warship. The destroyer attempted to stand, raising herself on wounded legs and propping herself on the corner of the alcove in an attempt to greet the encroaching cruiser, but quickly sat herself down again, dull pain in her feet causing her to abandon the effort.

"A-class if I'm not mistaken." Hood confirmed, stopping just next to Ardent's position and offering a pleasant smile, "I'm sorry if you're a bit jumbled up, we normally don't have unexpected returns."

Ardent nodded, taking a moment to adjust to the fact that she was addressing a battlecruiser shaped as a human woman, "I'm not dead-" was all she could mutter on the matter.

Hood's smile brightened, "No, you're certainly not."

"Why aren't I dead?" Ardent repeated.

Hood laughed, a polite and mirthful laugh, "We'll get into the nitty gritty of it later, come on then, how about we discuss this somewhere more personable."

Ardent grabbed the wall, pushing herself up, in a second attempt to stand, It was then Hood noticed the damage to her screws, "can you walk?" The battlecruiser asked, with concern on her voice.

"I'm not sure," Ardent admitted, "I've never tried before."

Hood laughed, "right, no time like the present than." she held out an outstretched arm for Ardent.

Taking the hand apprehensively, Ardent let out a startled yelp as the battlecruiser hoisted her upwards and onto her feet, taking an arm around her shoulder to balance out the destroyer's weight.

"How does hot tea and something to eat sound?" Hood offered.

"Um- good, I think," Ardent admitted, leaning further into the capital ship for support as she attempted to compensate for her damaged propellers. "I'm not really sure to be honest."

"Right, well, we'll get you to the docks then first, to fix up those poor props of yours, then a nice spot of tea."

Ardent nodded, letting out a shy smile.

"Come on now lass, lets get you fixed up." Hood began, as she led Ardent forward, gingerly easing the smaller ship along.

The pair continued on past the doors, the large concrete room breaking off into the smartly dressed and elegant white stone hallways that harkened back to the British Navy's prime. Oil paintings of Nelson and other great victories, ships, and battles, gave Ardent no doubt as to who owned the building and the importance of it.

Hood gave another laugh when she saw the destroyer gazing at the walls, "bit gaudy isn't it?" she announced to Ardent, "they gave us a wing of the naval college, save for the big addition we unfortunately had back there and the way the rules work much of it looks like this."

Ardent nodded before a confused look took her face, "rules?" She asked.

"To getting us back." Hood explained, glancing back at the large steel doors behind her, "Apparently the more the room reminds us of our past the more likely we are to respond, the option was either a public calling in the harbor with the barrage balloons up or, in our case, building something that looked like the old drydocks."

"Oh." Ardent acknowledged as if the statement did anything more than create more questions.

"It's complicated and strange," Hood admitted, sensing the smaller ship's confusion, "I know it may seem like a bit of a cop out, but how about I bring you all up to speed later? You've been through a lot today."

Ardet nodded again and the cruiser let out a smile, "good. The docks are just up ahead, it'll give you some time to relax and fix up. Some honey, tea, and scones and you'll be better than when you left the yard."

Ardent nodded again noticing awkwardly that her assisted walk was cut short mid step as Hood stopped her in front of a set of wooden doors with the text "dockyards," clearly emblazoned above them, using her free hand to open the door, Hood swung it open to reveal what resembled a well furnished bathhouse. Inside and past some curtained changing areas, was a large and tiled public bathing space. In the center, the short vaulted ceilings and black and white tile pattern gave a very turn of the century appearance to the room. The sole occupant, a girl in her early teens sitting against the edge of the pool and humming merrily to herself in a wordless tune, appeared oblivious to the pair's entrance.

Hood shuffled towards a set of changing curtains, opening them up with quiet precision, Ardent noticed with minor nervousness, the cold look the battlecruiser gave to the still oblivious girl in the pool before she was directed towards a locker. Hood gave a point towards the label on the container, "you might want a suit on, try borrowing Glowworms, your classes are similar enough that spot should fit." Hood offered in a polite whisper before closing the curtain.

Ardent nodded, opening the locker and pulling out a plain black one piece swimsuit, she began undressing.

"Zubian." Hood called out from behind the curtain towards the pools with a demanding tone of quiet and authoritative politeness. "Why in God's name are you in here?"

A panicked splashing followed, and a voice began stuttering, "Oh! Hey hood! How are you?"

"Zubian." Hood admonisher with an audible sigh.

"We-uh, we ate too much, we got sick," The destroyer in the baths lied as Ardent began slipping her borrowed swimwear on.

"Zubian, we don't _get sick."_

"Yeah, weird huh?" Zubian laughed nervously as Ardent finished, sitting herself up. Taking a peek out the curtains Ardent sighed and began contemplating intervention on the side of her fellow destroyer.

"Zubian." Hood chided, eliciting a nervous laugh from the unseen Tribal class.

Ardent sighed again, pity for the the unseen girl overtaking her, "excuse me miss Hood," she called out, "I've changed."

The curtain opened, revealing the battlecruiser, who appeared unphased by her admonishment and offered her trademark polite grin to the seated destroyer, "look at that. You even got it right way around." she teased before offering an outstretched hand, "right. I'll help you into the docks."

Ardent nodded, accepting the offer hand as Hood pulled her up and into the entranceway between the two chambers, finally granting her a good look at her fellow destroyer. The brunette haired girl in the pool was now turned towards Ardent, her lighthly scarred face offering a look of confusion.

"Who's that?" Zubian asked.

"This is Ardent." Hood explained, "she just came back a scarce fifteen minutes ago."

"We thought we weren't doing any summonings today." Zubian countered, her expression growing more confused.

"Perplexing isn't it?" Hood offered, easing Ardent down the stairs. the destroyer began feeling the cool saltwater on her screws, a relieving feeling of warmth along her damaged propellers and legs. Glancing downwards, she noticed a faint glow beginning to shine around her feet.

"Why is she hurt," Zubian asked, noticing Ardent's limp and awkward movements, as Hood escorted the girl into her final steps in the water.

"I'm not sure," Hood chided, "I wasn't impolote enough to ask."

"You asked us, how we got hurt!" Zubian accused, ignorant of the rebuke the comment offered.

"Because I know that you hurt yourself doing something you weren't supposed to." the battlecruiser countered before turning to Ardent "I've got to return to my office, I'll send someone down with something for you to snack on soon. When you're done, there are towels in the changing areas, I'll have one of the other girls offer you a tour and get you settled."

Ardent nodded, suddenly feeling uneasy at Hood's impending absence.

"Don't fret, I'll be down again this afternoon, just try and relax, the water is excellent for melting the stress away."

Ardent nodded nervously and leaned back, letting her eyes close as the warm feeling in her leg dulled to a comforting feeling of relief, she sighed lighty and felt her consciousness slip away.

"So who are you?" a voice interrupted.

Turning towards the voice, Ardent realized her relief and fatigue had allowed her to forget the second occupant of the pool. Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, "Ardent," she muttered, "and you are?"

"We are Zubian." The other ship declared proudly, "we are a Tribal class."

"We?" Ardent asked, slightly confused.

"She is Zulu," she announced pointing to herself, "and she is Nubian," she declared, not moving her finger, "together we are Zubian."

"I see," Ardent muttered, not seeing at all.

"Thanks for helping us out with Hood, she can be a real jerk about things like that."

"She seemed nice." Ardent defended offhand.

"Sometimes, but whenever someone takes damage she yells a lot at them though, even if it's not a big deal or it wasn't their fault you can tell she's angry at us for it."

Ardent gave her a curious look, "she wasn't mad at me."

"Only because you just got back and if you weren't here she would've gotten mad at us."

"What did you do anyway?"

Zubian froze, "that's not important," she stammered, staring off at a distant tile

Ardent let out a sly grin and set an accusatory finger, finally displaying genuine interest in the conversation,"didn't you say you owed me?"

"But we-" Zubian muttered before letting out a sigh, "promise not to tell Hood?"

Ardent nodded.

"Do you know what a barrage balloon is?" Zubian asked nervously.

A second nod and a grin formed on Ardent's face.

"Glowworm and us were trying to find a way to drop depth charges on enemy ships,"

Ardent leaned forward, doing nothing to hide her obvious interest in the story.

"And sometimes we're light like people, but otherwise sometimes we've got a bit more tonnage due to being ships." Zubian continued, too busy avoiding eye contact out of embarrassment to notice her fellow destroyer's eagerness.

Ardent, however, did nothing to hide her shit eating smile.

"We discovered that we are heavy when we tie ourselves to balloon and leap off the top of the academy. Really heavy."

Ardent giggled to herself, causing the older destroyer turned an embarrassed shade of crimson, "you said you wouldn't laugh!" Zubian muttered through her blush.

"I said I wouldn't tell Hood, not that I wouldn't laugh." the A Class corrected.

Zubian considered this and frowned, leaning back against her side of the pool and letting out a sulk.

Ardent giggled to herself again and laid back, relaxing again to the feeling of comfort around her foot as she laid back and shut her eyes.

,


	3. Chapter 3: about bloody time

Ardent stretched, her consciousness drifting in slowly from her deep sleep. With a yawn she opened her eyes. Unsurprisingly she was still in the baths though her former coinhabitant was now absent. The destroyer shrugged, an action that turned into another more dramatic stretch as she worked the kinks out of her inactive body. Giving another look around for anyone else around, she noted with some relief that she in fact was alone, though her relief soon perished as a distressing sight caught her eye.

Next to her was a tea set and several plates, empty of their contents and laid haphazardly onto a plastic tray, obviously discarded by a particularly unorganized hand. The destroyer let out a scowl, dark thoughts regarding her fellow destroyer descended over her. Her teatime appeared to be completely unsalvageable.

Grumbling still and fixing her hat to bear the words "HMS Ardent" forward, Ardent stepped out into the hall, the scent of seawater and steel that filled the baths was now gone, courtesy of a shower and some lavender soap she had pilfered with minor guilt from Glowworm's locker. Glancing down the hall with a huff, her scowl dimmed and replaced itself with a confused and nervous look as the destroyer realized that she had no idea where to proceed. Looking for any sign of a pathway to Hood's office bore little results. Letting out a dejected sigh, Ardent picked the opposite path she came in on and began walking.

Dodging by helpful looking but overwhelmingly serious military personnel that walked down the corridors with obvious intent, Ardent continued to wander, pushing her way down the halls and around anyone she didn't recognize. Eventually the destroyer reached a junction among the stately halls of the college and cast a look down each hallway recognizing nothing, but noting the smartly dressed soldiers in their red and white caps laughing amongst each other, peculiar looking rifles slung only their back.

One of them gave a sidelong glance into her direction, breaking his conversation, "Excuse me miss?" he offered in a concerned tone, "are you lost?"

"Fine." Ardent declared a bit too quickly, offering an awkward finger over her own shoulder and down the other end of the corridor, "I'm that way." Before turning around and taking a brisk pace in the opposite direction.

The man offered her a brief perplexed look before re engaging in conversation with his fellow soldiers.

Ardent took a corner and sighed, cursing herself over her inability to ask for directions. Sighing dejectedly before a peculiar sight caught her eyes.

A trio of ships formed in the hallway, backs facing her. One, battleship was sitting, or more appropriately lying, against the wall, her uniform, reminiscent of a Royal Navy officer's dress, was full of medals and sashes laying haphazardly against her chest. The other two ships present, a pair of cruisers, light and heavy, talked amongst each other in stressed tones over the unconscious battleship.

The perplexing site mitigated by the calming presence of British warships, Ardent grabbed a nervous handful of her skirt and took a step forward, "Excuse me." she asked the standing duo in a quiet tone. "sorry, I'm a bit lost."

Whatever calm Ardent had from the familiar presence of the larger and presumably more capable capital ships was immediately blow away by a pair of surprised and alarmed expressions. The destroyer immediately took back her earlier step forwards

"Oh shite." the heavy cruiser muttered in a north English accent, before turning to her friend with confused expression, "is she one of yours?"

"No," the light cruiser replied through a thick Scottish tone, "Haven't the faintest, who she is, you know never on destroyer babysitting duty."

"Oh," the Town class muttered before turning to Ardent and offering a shooting motion, "piss off than".

Ardent decided that still further retreat was advisable, taking another step back and tracing nervous looks between the two ships, still caught off guard by the alarmed looks of the two ships.

The larger of the two returned to her task of sizing up the battleship, glancing over the limp form of what appeared to be HMS Rodney for a brief minute, before giving Ardent a second dose of the shooing motion, "-said piss off." she muttered, clearly attempting to ignore the destroyer.

The shorter of the two however appeared to soften slightly at Ardent's growing panic. "Cumberland!" The Scot rebuked, "can't you see the poor girl is scared shitless?"

Cumberland gave a confused look back at her friend before offering another glance at the interloper. Her cold softened slightly when she made eye contact with Ardent. "Oh." the heavy cruiser managed in a guilty tone, fumbling with the cuffs of her jacket awkwardly as she quickly averted her gaze.

The Scottish ship offered no reply instead placing a friendly hand on Ardent's shoulder, "now then lass, what's your name?" She asked

in a calming tone.

Ardent smiled slightly, the presence of a now collected light cruiser reassuring her slightly, "I'm Ardent."

The cruiser's friendly smile took a deeper sympathetic expression, "oh." She muttered with quiet recollection.

"Just give her instructions on where she needs to go and help me with Rodnol," Cumberland called, hoisting the now obviously unconscious battleship by the armpits.

"Oi! shut the fuck up Cumberland, deal with her drunk arse yourself!" the light cruiser shouted angrily towards her struggling compatriot before offering a warm expression to Ardent. "Sorry, I'm Scottish, hard to guard me language."

Ardent gave a confused nod before the woman thrusted a hand out.

"Edinburgh," the larger ship offered, smiling warmly as Ardent returned a nervous shake. "I haven't seen you about here before, when did you get in?"

"Just recently," Ardent offered staring at the floor with embarrassment, "I'm not sure really where I'm supposed to go."

Edinburgh frowned, "what kind of post transfers you without instructions on what to do?" Noting the embarrassment of the smaller girl she offered a reassuring ruffle of the destroyer's cap, "it's alrite lass, big sis Edinburgh can show ye where to go."

Ardent shook her head, "no, i didn't really transfer- at least I don't think I really did. I got back from the- uh- big room with the pool."

Edinburgh froze and tensed up, giving a wide eyed stare of surprise and a touch of panic to Ardent before glancing up at her companion, who Ardent noticed wore a similar expression.

Edinburgh's efforts to soothe younger ship quickly disintegrated with the change in mood. Ardent blanched, her lip quivering slightly, "I'm sorry." She whimpered, taking a step back, fear beginning to sink in, "is something wrong? Am I not supposed to be here?! I was looking for hood-"

Edinburgh switched her attention back to Ardent, matronly panic at the destroyer's distress pushing into overdrive. The Scot worriedly went over several possible solutions to the smaller ship's distress, flailing her arms about in panic as tears welled in the destroyer's eyes. Suddenly electing a course of damage control, she pulled Ardent into a great comforting hug and after the briefest of moments, felt the tension from the smaller ship wane away in her arms. "There's no problem child, you just had us worried is all."

Ardent nodded, relaxing in the warmth of the larger ship's comforting embrace before pulling away gently "thanks", she muttered softly.

"Now come on." Edinburgh called, standing tall and offering a hand to Ardent, "let's get you to Hood's office."

Cumberland began hoisting the battleship up into her shoulder, letting out a cursed groan at the effort, "She's going to smell the booze on you from a hundred yards," she muttered at Edinburgh.

"Eh, what's the worst she'll do, try and take it away? She knows that never works," the Scot adjusted her checkered cap and gave Cumberland a knowing look. "'sides we owe poor Ardent here."

Ardent gave a confused expression to the pair "For what?"

"I'll explain later," Edinburgh muttered softly, offering anothrr matronly ruffle of the destroyer's hat and taking her hand. She sighed deeply, "now let's get ourselves to Hood."

Ardent let the light cruiser take the way down the hallways, noting that the identically well furnished look to this portion of the college as the earlier portions made it difficult for her to even keep track of her course when guided, though Edinburgh seemed confident. So too did the men and women in strange uniforms who offered periodic waves and greetings to the pair, always returned by the Scot despite. Though between the greetings Arden noted the smile on the light cruiser's lips slowly waning.

"It's just up ahead." Edinburgh noted with a frown.

"Is- is something wrong?" Ardent stammered, glancing warily down the hallway that Edinburgh seemed so upset over.

The light cruiser gave a confused look at her charge. Her frown upticked slightly at the sight of Ardent's worry and she let out a small laugh, "no, child, nothing to worry you. but Hood always has a knack for giving me a stern talking to every time I visit her office."

Ardent's worry deepend and she tightened her grip on the cruiser's hand "even when you haven't done anything wrong." she asked, clearly upset by a perceived injustice.

Edinburgh let out another laugh, before taking a light breath into her hand, sniffing it and letting out a dejected sigh, "lass, I've always done something wrong."

"Even now?" The destroyer asked.

Edinburg pondered this for a moment. "Not now explicitly, but yes." The light cruiser sighed, "and I know I'm going to say something to get myself in even more trouble. She won't let me wear a skirt after last time." the cruiser declared indignantly gesturing to her black trousers.

Ardent offered a horrified look, causing the cruiser to backpedal, raising her hands in a disarming gesture, "It's not a completely a punishment. Really. She asked if I was wearing knickers or going full scotsman one day and I wouldn't tell."

Ardent rapidly found the wall far more interesting than Edinburgh's conversation, a deep blush forming on the destroyer's cheeks.

The embarrassment proved contagious, the light cruiser raising her hands in a repeat of her disarming gesture, "of course I was wearing me bloody knickers but it's no fun to just tell her that." Edinburgh defended, "you'll figure that out soon enough." The light cruiser sighed, stopping suddenly before a deep pounding sound interrupted Ardent's fascination with the wall.


	4. Chapter 4: Only War

"Who is it?" Called the voice of Hood from beyond the door.

"Dame Edinburgh here to bring a wayward lady back to your holy majesty," the cruiser replied in a regal tone, slightly bowing as if to accentuate the impression and offering an amused smile to Ardent.

There was a short pause from the other end. "Edinburgh, if you'd please just tell me what you want, you know I'm bloody busy here."

Edinburgh gave a dramatic shake of her head before turning her head to Ardent, thumb pointing accusingly at the door, "see, I told you she takes the fun out of everything." she muttered knowingly before turning again to the door, "I found your lost destroyer."

"Damn it, why didn't you just say so," the door replied with a exasperated tone, "come in!"

Edinburgh opened the door, offering a disingenuous smile at Hood, before waving Ardent in before herself in an overembellished Impression of a doorman

The office was fashioned similarly to the rest of the building, or at least bore tribute to the same austentatious look. Inlaid wooden walls, broad open windows gave the mostly empty room a look of classically British elegance and the antique globe and paintings of ships of the line reminding those in it of the strength of arms of the organization that funded it.

The current single occupant of the room sat behind a conspicuously plain wooden desk and a mountain of paperwork, with two ornate wooden chairs before it, given the dramatic difference in style and lack of other furniture, Ardent suspected the current owner of the office ad repurpose it from another purpose with little regard for maintaining style.

"I see Zubian wasn't available to show you the way." said occupant murmured, with a tone that only barely covered the incoming lectures towards the tribal class with an overtone of politeness. "Still. thank you Edinburgh for escorting Ardent.

"My pleasure ma'am," Edinburgh announced, "weren't about to leave her wandering alone and afraid."

The destroyer shot Edinburgh a dirty look, but Hood offered a more diplomatic polite smile to the cruiser, "well, you're dismissed Edinburgh."

"With due respect ma'am, while I won't be stealing Ardent's time with me you could I speak to you when you're finished here?"

For the briefest of moments Ardent detected confusion present in Hood's expression, though the battlecruiser quickly hid it behind her usual expression of helpful politeness again. "Of course Edinburgh, my door is always open."

Edinburgh gave a sloppy salute followed with a half hearted about face and dismissed herself.

As the door closed, Hood brightened and returned her attention to Ardent, "well, apologies over your day, It must have been disorienting to have to wander about all on your own." Hood gestured to a finely crafted wooden chair sitting near the desk, "please though, take a seat."

Ardent shook her head, refuting the apology while taking the offered seat. "It was okay, Edinburgh helped me out in the end."

"She's a nice girl, in spirit. But she does tend to get herself into trouble more than I'd like." hood reminisced. "But we have some important and admittedly rather unsavory business to attend to unfortunately."

Ardent nodded, worry seeping into her.

"Tea?" Hood offered, pointing to an antique tea set on the corner of her desk, "I made a fresh pot just before you arrived."

Ardent glanced at the pot, polite acceptance on the tip of her tongue, before flashes of the empty tea Zubian had left for her pilfered from her earlier, instead offering her biggest enthusiastic smile, "I'd love some thank you, I've always wanted to try tea."

The transition between confusion, realization, and anger, flashed quickly over Hood's face quickly as she pondered the statement, but not quickly enough for the destroyer to miss the implications. Ardent offered her thanks from beneath a satisfactory grin.

"Well, on to the business at hand. I'm sorry to bring you it out this so quickly, but frankly I haven't the time to take things slow these days." Hood began explaining, passing Ardent a cup before taking a second herself. "Well, the first bit of information needed to bring you up to speed; the war is over. Has been for a good eighty years. Congratulations Ardent you were on the winning side."

The destroyer glanced down at her tea briefly in thought, "oh." She managed briefly, "I should have liked to have seen it."

Hood nodded sympathetically and took a sip of tea, "As would have I Ardent, we have a bit of reading that can help you fill in the details and an excellent library to fill you in on the details. A bit of warning though, things got much worse before they got better. I had to take some breaks, don't rush yourself."

Ardent nodded weakly, "did England fall?"

Hood gave the destroyer a chiding shake of the head. "come now Ardent, we English are harder to beat than that," she teased before her expression faded again, the somber look on Ardent stealing her desire to press the joke. "I know it feels a bit hollow," Hood offered sympathetically, taking a small sip of tea "I felt the same when I heard the news."

This news seemed to pull Ardent out of her somber worry, she looked up to the battlecruiser now in surprise and alarm, "did the Jerries get you too?"

Hood hesitated for a second, glancing into her teacup and down at the paperwork on her desk. "Yes Ardent. yes they did."

The room went quiet, the silence dragging on for several long seconds before finally the battlecruiser cracked a bittersweet smile. "Bloody hell Ardent, you've made us all gloomy."

"Sorry," the destroyer muttered into her tea.

"It's quite alright, I'm just surprised, I told you we won to try and lighten the mood you know. Most Destroyers spend quite some time celebrating, even Zubian and she wasn't even in it."

Ardent shrugged and continued staring into her tea.

"Well, as long as I've made things here quite bleak I might as well keep pulling teeth proverbial teeth," Hood announced dryly, pulling open a drawer and rummaging through it before pulling them out onto her desk.

Ardent cast a confused look at the Battlecruiser.

"We're at war again. A big one."

Ardent swallowed a nervous sip of Earl Grey, "How big?"

"Well, so far they've been hitting us pretty relentlessly from the seas, luckily much of England has been able to soldier through it and there doesn't seem to be a credible land threat yet."

The younger girl nodded, "that all seems a bit too familiar to me." she muttered darkly.

Hood nodded, before opening a folder, glancing over the contents with a brief flare of unconcealed anger in her eyes, "I apologize for this." The battlecruiser announced before flipping a sheet of paper the folder over for Ardent to view.

Glancing up from her tea at the image, From Ardent's very core a feeling of revulsion poured out over her, a great wrongness permitted from the picture accompanied by a horrific grinding noise.

The destroyer clutched her stomach, the feeling of knots twisting themselves in her as if her very insides were shrieking at the existence of the picture. It took what seemed like minutes for the girl to slow down and realize that the horrible grinding noise came from her pushing herself back deep into the chair, straining the wood. Hood closed the folder and the destroyer felt herself relax, though the lingering wrongness of the sight still stuck with her and her breathing came short and fast.

"What?" Was also she could stammered between breaths.

"That." The battlecruiser began, "is our proverbial tooth pulling. We call it an Abyssal. Wo class more specifically. Most girls have a similar reaction, I hear Rodney punched a hole in the admiral's desk, not really any way to make it easier in my experience."

Ardent nodded, pondering the image she had seen and nervously fidgeting a lock of her hair with her free hand.

"They showed up about two years ago, in the gulf of Japan," Hood continued as she began placing the file neatly back in the desk. "a month and a half before the first of us. They offered no quarter, no warning, no communication whatsoever. Just immediate total war."

"But what are they?" Ardent asked, tentatively taking a sip of tea.

"As near as we can tell, they're simply our antithesis." Hood replied before pouring herself a fresh cup of tea, "the current theory is that while you and I apparently draw ourselves from that soul of national sovereignty, democratic ideals, and protecting Belgians, the Abyssals come from the darker side of the war. "Hate, racism, and fearmongering, those ideals that drove the conflict into its darkest days."

"So they're the Germans?" Ardent asked with genuine confusion causing Hood to nearly spit out her tea in shock.

"No Ardent," Hood stated hastily, hand held to her mouth as the battlecruiser attempted to ensure that she swallowed the tea properly. "They're not the Germans."

"The Italians?" the destroyer suggested

This time Hood let out a short laugh, though with a slight twinge of bitterness to her voice, "come now Ardent, surely you don't think the Italians of all people are presenting a credible threat to the Royal Navy?" the battlecruiser offered incredulously. "No, they're a bit of a mixed bag. We've seen all sorts of ships, even our own, amongst their number, though usually the brutes travel in something reminiscent of their old squadron compositions."

A pause followed, as Hood waited for the girl to continue her questions, none forthcoming, she placed her teacup on the desk before herself with finality "that is the state of things at the moment in brief. If I'm honest with you, the whole thing is a bit messy overall."

Ardent nodded and took a short sip, placing her now empty cup besides Hood's "So where do I fit in?"

Hood leaned down and opened a drawer, shuffling through a series of documents with what sounded to Ardent like wild abandon "Well I would first like to say that the draft is over, I can't force you to fight, we have a-"

"I'll fight" Ardent interrupted, far louder than she had intended

Hood peeked over the edge of her desk and offered a pleased smile to the destroyer, flopping a new folder onto the tabletop. "I figured you wouldn't be nearly so eager after all you've been through, you're stronger than I credited you for Ardent."

Ardent nodded slowly, surprised by her own hastiness to agree, "I-um did have another question though, if you don't mind."

"Oh?" Hood asked, "certainly." The battlecruiser flipped open a folder, filling out a series of papers at a rapid but deliberate pace.

The destroyer pulled another lock of hair from underneath her sailor cap, fidgeting awkwardly with the strand. "You've mentioned ships- including myself 'coming back', How many ships do we have, who has returned?"

Hood sighed and gave Ardent a sympathetic look before setting her pen down "in answer to your direct question, about half of the Royal Navy has come back, near all are in active service somewhere in British territory or assisting allied fleets. However. In answer to your implied question, neither Arcasta nor Glorious has returned."

Ardent slumped back in her chair and nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry Ardent." Hood offered with genuine sympathy. "Don't fear though, we've all got someone we're waiting on, they'll be here before you know it, then you can lead them through the ropes yourself."

The destroyer offered a simple disappointed nod.

The battlecruiser gave an encouraging smile and pushed her paperwork to the side, clasping the hand of her charge. "How about we get you settled in? I apparently have an unscheduled appointment with Edinburgh after this. But I'll get one of your new roommates up here to show you around okay? I do hope you don't mind having a roommate for a bit, it tends to help girls get acquainted to the day to day of the new world, if it's trouble we can get you your own quarters later.

Ardent nodded, "okay."

"I know it's a lot to take in" Hood replied, ruffling the destroyer's hat."You're dismissed Ardent, just wait outside and I'll send someone out to get you.

Ardent stood up rapidly, clicked her heels together, and attempted a salute, throwing her hand up in the familiar flat handed British manner. Her lack of muscle memory and form control betrayed her however and her gesture slammed her thumb joint directly into her eye, a shriek of pain and surprise followed the gesture.

Hood's brief smirk went unnoticed by the destroyer, who was firmly occupied with trying to rub the pain and welling tears away. ",You'll get the hang of it eventually dear." the battlecruiser admonished.

Ardent said nothing, electing for discretion and ignoring the pain, she did a full turn and carried herself out with long strides and an only partially composed impression of a grenadier guard, fumbling awkwardly with the doorknob for several seconds before flinging the door open and stepping outside.

"You alright lass?" A familiar Scottish voice asked as the destroyer stepped out.

"Fine." Ardent mumbled turning away from the voice to hide her eye.

The voice let out an unconvinced grunt and passed Ardent through the doorway, stopping in the frame briefly before turning back to the destroyer, "well, will you need directions? I'll only be a minute."

"I'm fine thanks." Ardent retaliated, pouring more of her pained frustration into the statement than intended, she quickly grabbed the handle and closed the door quickly on Edinburgh.

It was only after she glanced both ways down the hallway to verify she was alone that Ardent let out a dissatisfied grunt and took a seat against the wall, rubbing her eye as she did.

She sighed with frustration, let out a bitter pained curse, and waited.


	5. Chapter 5: digital age

Holy shit did Hood finally deck someone?"

The voice caught Ardent off guard and she glanced up, blinking the haze out of her right eye at the blurry silhouette of a figure of similar height and build to herself.

"What'd you have to do put on your best Jackie Fisher impression and tell her 'speed is armor,' until she decided to gift out a shiner for our efforts?'"

Ardent ignored the comment and continued blinking out the confusion and haze until the figure before her finally revealed themselves. Similar in stature and appearance to herself, the figure's expression and sense of self confidence drifted well into the realm of 'cocky', giving the impression of a girl who tried all too often to punch above her own weight class. Evidence of her failure to pick fights was compounded clearly by the indications of breakage on her nose and the singes on the tattered wool trench coat that she wore as a cape.

"No." The mystery girl mused again, drawing a thoughtful finger to her chin "did you make a quip about her refit? Always wondered if that would set her off."

"No she didn't-" Ardent began before frowning slightly, "who even are you anyways?"

The girl laughed and pointed towards her sailor's cap where the text "H.M.S. Glowworm" was clearly visible. "Man she sure slapped the shit out of you didn't she? Knocked the sense right out."

Ardent just offered a scowl.

"She did tell me to pick you up and room with us though. Probably views that as a punishment or something." Glowworm muttered with clear amusement. "to be honest she's probably right about that." the destroyer offered a lopsided grin and a hand to her seated comrade.

Ardent hesitated briefly before taking the girl's hand and allowing herself to be hoisted up, using her free hand to keep her cap planted on her head.

As soon as she was standing Glowworm released her hand and pivoted. "C'mon then!" The destroyer cheered, slapping Ardent hard on the back as encouragement and offering a dramatic gesture down the hallway, "I'm sure Zubian will appreciate meeting someone that Hood hates more than her."

"Hood didn't-" Ardent began before she realized the destroyer had already moved on from their conversation and was focused on skipping down the hallway, humming "the British Grenadiers" over any possible protest Ardent could muster. as the girl led Ardent down yet another series of identically ostentatious and confusing hallways.

Ardent glanced up at what looked like the third identical painting of an English and French ship exchanging broadside she had passed since this morning and let out a frustrated sigh, trusting Glowworm to know where they were heading.

Eventually, by the fifth seemingly identical painting, Ardent's guide took a sudden left turn, past a pair of men dressed similarly to the soldiers Ardent had encountered before, disappearing suddenly into a short hallway.

"This is one of the dormitories, where all the girls sleep." Glowworm explained loudly, even before her charge had finished rounding the corner. "Course the battleships get the nicer ones where the upper class boys of the old college lived, because they're _so_ important," the destroyer finished her sentence with an exaggerated shake of her hands. The pair passed several closed doorways, while most were blank, a few held nameplates listing their occupants on them, some were familiar to Ardent as destroyers she had served with, though a small portion were new. Her attention stuck between the doorways, Ardent nearly slammed into the now stationary form of Glowworm.

It was with a quick note of the names "Glowworm" and "Zubian" on the door that confirmed to Ardent that they had arrived. She had however only barely noticed the dirty bootprints on the door before Glowworm leaned back and offered a hefty high kick to the door's center, throwing it open dramatically and causing a deafening crashing of rubber on wood as the stop tried to desperately and vainly prevent any damage.

"ZUBES I'M BACK!" Glowworm shouted into the entranceway, directing her attention at the figure currently tumbling from a bunk with a shocked squeal and a flurry of pages.

Glowworm gave another smug grin at the sight, turned and gestured for Ardent to enter with a short bow.

Suppressing a mournful sigh, Ardent entered as instructed glancing over at the red faced girl who lay in a crumpled pile of bedsheets and pages, currently picking herself and a set of books off the floor with an expression of angry embarrassment.

"Glowworm, we told you not to do that." Zubian muttered, stacking the books up on the bed again, before climbing up after them "we even asked nicely."

Glowworm shrugged nonchalantly and turned instead to address Ardent. "Right," Glowworm began, "we've got four bunks, Zubian will fight you to the death over top bunk on her wall and you're not getting my bunk over here," the destroyer explained gesturing to a bed on the opposite wal?, "so your bed as much a question of top and bottom and Zubian and me."

Zubian's grew excited, apparently ignorant of her earlier slight against Ardent, "Oh! Is she living with us?!" the destroyer cried ,"which bed does she get?!"

Ardent sighed, taking this change in pace to take in the room's structure. Two bunk beds sat against each wall with a short desk at the head and foot of each, a pair of doors occupied the far wall. The respective sides however were clearly at odds with each other. While both had a layer of trash and dirty clothes covering the floor, the side Zuban occupied was far more ostentatious. A variety of mismatched posters from a variety of bands, movies, and various ad campaigns was complemented by a series of poorly assembled and unpainted model planes hastily attached to the ceiling. Glowworm's side however held only a single poster that lauded a man apparently named "Rocky" and, unless it was hidden beneath the noticeably thicker piles of refuse, she appeared much less interested in maintaining any sort of personality to her room.

Ardent took a second look between the sides, noting the obvious difference in the two girls personalities with growing distaste and increasingly excited looks from Zubian every time Ardent looked at her side of the room. Ardent let out yet another pained sigh before settling on Zubian's slightly cleaner side, plopping herself down on the bottom bed next to a sizable pile of stuffed animals left there and making a few experimental bounces on the bedspring mattress.

The upside down image of Zubian's face popped down from the top bunk, a wide excited smile on it, her Auburn hair dangling down with it.

Ardent raised an eyebrow, "Is there something you need?"

Zubian shook her head though refused to drop the smile, "no, we're just happy to have someone to bunk with and talk to."

"Word of advice," Glowworm began, laying herself nonchalantly on her bed before fishing a very short but wide black box off of her desk at her bed's headboard, "don't engage her in conversation when you're trying to sleep. She won't shut up."

Zubian turned a deep shade of crimson and shot an accusatory glare at Glowworm, "we like to chat a bit-".

Glowworm ignored the comment, settling herself into a swaddle of ever deeper blankets before grabbing the top of the box and opening the lid, bathing herself in a sea of light.

Ardent's attention was quickly diverted from Zubian and she stared at the new contraption from around the face hanging above her bed with a furrowed brow, "What are you doing?"

Glowworm offered an annoyed expression as she put on a set of headphones, plugging them into the side of the box. "Watching Netflix…." the destroyer muttered, her tone slightly offended at Ardent's question.

"Who's a Netflix?" Arden countered, still staring at the contraptio.

The G class's expression switched from annoyed, to confused before letting out a short chortle, taking of the headphones and setting them down, "Ah, so you just got back than." She muttered with interest.

Ardent offered a shrug, "I'm still trying to figure out things around here."

"We'll explain it!" Zubian announced excitedly from an impromptu blanket bundle on her own bed, "Glowworm will just make up stories anyways."

Glowworm offered a teasing glare towards Zubian "She a few decades after you Zubes, I'm sure she'll know that tearing up a few hundred meters of Ethernet cord isn't going to find her Superman, no matter what the screen shows."

Zubian shrunk from the edge of her bed and made a mewling noise, covering herself with her thick covers.

Glowworm managed to pry her eyes from the light box and give a look at Ardent, "In answer to your question, apparently while we were asleep, Bletchley park built a device that allowed them to crack codes and track German submarines, after the war they sold it to a man named Bill Bates and he put a projector on the inside so you could watch movies on it."

Ardent's curiosity was now peaked, leaving her recently acquired bed she wandered to Glowworm's side, leaning herself in to experience the miracle box firsthand.

On the screen, a great battle unfolded, tiny men running too and fro between walls and ramparts, arrows were loosed, men fells and died while great winged dragons breathed fire on the melee.

"How?" Ardent managed in a gasp of wonder.

Glowworm put on a smug and authoritative look before pointing at one of the dragons flying above the blazing ramparts, "It's definitely a puppet with a flamethrower in it, but I think they use an iguana for some angles," she stated matter of factly.

Ardent nodded sagely, still transfixed on the gorey medieval combat the computer displayed for her.

Zubian looked up from her bundle, "Jervis says she looked it up online and they used a different computer to make it."

"Zubes how are they going to use a box of lights to make a dragon?" Glowworm muttered dryly, shooting a derisive look, "Jervis is just making more nonsense up again."

Zubian shrugged noncommittally, "Jervis said it, not us. Besides, the computer can do anything."

Ardent raised a suspicious eyebrow, "but how is the film supposed to make things real? Is it some sort of Martian materializer?"

From within her bundle, Glowworm cast another cocky look, "No, she's right for once, the computer is a beautiful invention. Only the American girls really understand them. Apparently Mr. Bates got them all put into the Americans during the war, it makes them all crazy with their radar, they can shoot through smoke and stuff. The whole thing is apparently like our old Admiralty Fire Control Clock or something but cranked up to 11."

Ardent's eyes went wide "So wait- can the box help us shoot things we can't see?"

Glowworm shrugged. "The box has a great deal many secrets." The girl began, looking down at the flat faced typewriter and awkwardly hunting and pecking the keys with a confidant grin of showmanship, "For instance, it can play games and one of the americans made a secret room where all of the destroyer can chat without anyone seeing."

As her hands moved across the flat faced typewriter at the base of the device, the pictures on it began to change with sudden alterations in text and wording until a deep steely grey background with a silhouette of a destroyer bearing the text "The Picket Line" stood above a series of smaller categorized images and text boxes.

"There's a whole bunch of ships all talking and sending computer letters to each other on here. It's really confusing, but the whole thing is layered and stuff with different categories that you can talk in." the destroyer cycled past a number of advice and discussion topics that various destroyers used between each other before settling towards the subjects at the bottom. "The Americans won't let me talk in any but the 'off topic' and 'shit posting' categories anymore, but there's a great feature where you can send angry messages to the krauts directly."

Ardent cast a brief unbelieving look at the girl next to her"And they can read them?"

Ardent's guide nodded enthusiastically, "Yup! Fom all the way in Germany. If you want to try it go for the oldest ones, usually from the first war, the newer ones just get all sad about whatever you say and apologize."

"But why do they stick around to be made fun of."

Glowworm let out a knowing giggle, "Oh, they try to shitsling back sometimes, though but being Germans they're no good at it. Also some of them just talk to other people about boring stuff like the war, their lives, and movies and stuff."

"Is that an option?" Ardent asked, "just talking?"

Glowworm made a face, "yeah, if you're boring, most of the ships do that, but what's the point of having unrestricted communication with your old adversary if you're not going to call them a tosser every now and again?"

"But the Germans are allies now…" Zubian interjected from the other side of the room, poking her head out from her blanket retreat.

Glowworm could only offer a noncommittal shrug.

Ardent gave a glance down at the laptop on Glowworm's lap. "So this machine is a system that allows you to receive moving pictures to view and post letters to be displayed on the screen that you can can send to be delivered across the globe? The entire concept seems rather novel, I'd like to try it sometime."

"You can play games too," Glowworm corrected, "I have no idea how that works though, probably puppets."

"Like chess?" Ardent asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And space pinball," interjected Zubian excitedly from across the room.

"Pretty much," Glowworm confirmed, "you could ask Jervis about it, but if you bring it up she just gets mad at some game I've never played called 'blocked website', which if you ask me sounds like a crappy game anyways."

Ardent nodded.

"But anyways," the destroyer continued, "if you promise not to ask questions about what's happening in the show you can watch an episode or two with me."

Ardent nodded more enthusiastically this time, "it looks fascinating, I'd love to see more"

"Here," Glowworm muttered, pulling out the headphones and letting the ring of battle and dramatic music flow into the room, "you can listen too now."

Ardent's eyes went wide, glancing wondrously at the device, "the little bastard has got sound too?"


	6. Chapter 6: Confessional

Almost as soon the door closed behind the destroyer, Edinburgh shot a confused look at Hood, "what the hell happened to her?" the cruiser muttered.

The battlecruiser let out a wry smile, "slapped herself in the face by mistake, she's still a bit confused and uncoordinated, you remember how it is." Hood continued her unending task of shifting and moving paperwork before granting Edinburgh a look to acknowledge her presence and shifting the pile of documents to the side of her desk. "please." She began gesturing towards the vacant chair. "take a seat."

Edinburgh plopped herself down unceremoniously, eliciting an alarmed squeak from the wooden structure of the chair.

"Now," Hood began, "I'll admit that I'm more than a tad surprised to have you come into my office without me having to drag you in for a discipline hearing that you'll laugh off." the woman's voice conveyed a tone that held little but professionalism and courtesy, "so what may I owe this visit to?"

Edinburgh let out a half chuckle, glancing down at her hands as she awkwardly shifted them in her lap, "you pretty much nailed it there actually."

Hood blinked, "sorry?" She muttered, making no effort to hide her confusion.

"The discipline hearing." Edinburgh explained offering her best attempt at a crooked and disarming grin. "I've come to confess my sins."

Hood sighed, "Is this about you day drinking and excusing yourself from mandatory briefings? Honestly, I wasn't going to record your obviously unkempt uniform and whiskey breath, but if you insist I do-" the battlecruiser reached into one of her many files and removed a piece of paper from it, drawing a forebodingly red pen alongside.

The light cruiser shrugged, "honestly I've got enough marks in me record to inspire a soviet revolution it makes no difference to me what you put in there. The girl glanced down awkwardly at her hands again. "The truth is, I've got a favor to ask you. Well, actually if you give it as a punishment it might be easier for me to swallow."

For the second time, Hood was unabashedly confused and intrigued, "you're asking me to punish you by granting you a favor? Isn't that a bit bold?"

Edinburgh offered a lopsided grin and a shrug that subsided into awkward guilt under the battlecruiser's intense gaze, "For starters this might work best if I backtrack and be a bit more honest." She took a deep breath and stole herself. "I summoned Ardent," she announced with determination.

The battlecruiser looked to her junior in confusion again, "How? Or more importantly, why?"

"I was drunk and ranting at the summoning pool," the light cruiser relented with trepidation, "I didn't realize I had summoned a terrified destroyer until I bumped into her in the halls."

Hood held her pen pensively between her hands and let out a sigh, "I don't know if you expect me to reward you for honesty. I had assumed someone did something stupid to bring the poor girl in, but with no one hurt I didn't need to drag the MPs into ia messy investigation. Now with you admitting to it, it puts us both in some proverbial hot water."

The cruiser shot Hood a cocky grin, "This is where i ask for that favor."

Hood's face conveyed a look of disappointment, "You can't confess on my desk, especially reeking of booze and disheveled as you are and expect to walk away, I was willing to let you get away with it before you opened your mouth, but now-"

Edinburgh shook her head, "I want to be assigned as squadron leader for that little rag tag bunch of harlots you're sticking her in with, I know you've got a shortage on volunteering light cruisers to keep them in line."

Hood raised an eyebrow, "after you show up half drunk you ask for more responsibility? I said I needed to punish you, not Ardent and her squadron mates."

"Consider it an effort to punish and set me straight," Edinburgh offered, "If it makes you feel better, it might even work. At the very least I can't go off and get piss drunk when I've got a dozen torpedo boats keeping me up until the wee hours." the cruiser took a serious tone, "and honestly I'm already scared shitless at the idea of letting them down."

Hooe leaned back and considered the proposal, flipping her red pen in contemplation, "But why?" she finally asked, "this whole thing is rather out of character for you."

"It seems like the right thing to do." Edinburgh muttered.

"Come now Edinburgh, don't insult me, I know you're not the biggest slack off I have and you do have a sense of honor but this is out of character even for you, volunteering for duties?" Hood shook her head incredulously, "what is it you're after?"

Edinburgh's expression darkened and she suddenly avoided the battlecruiser's gaze in favor of her own lap, "do you know how Ardent sunk?" she asked with quiet finality.

Hood pondered the question, taken off guard by the tone of the normally jovial and sarcastic Scot. "She and one of her sisters were sunk by the battleship Scharnhorst defending Glorious if I'm not mistaken, with a great deal of loss of life in all crews."

"Barely six months after my patrol group failed to nab the bitch too" The light cruiser explained, still avoiding eye contact, "without dropping too many of me feelings on the table. I don't want to have to say I let that poor scared girl get killed twice. Might even stop me from secretly hoping that Scharnhorst will give me an excuse to shoot her in the face."

"Scharnhorst is a wonderful girl." Hood interjected suddenly, "she's probably more horrified by what happened that day than you are."

Edinburgh shrugged, but was only able to give Hood a passing glance, "Probably," she agreed, "but I've seen the hate glares you drill into the back of poor Bismark's head when she's not looking. I know you share the same feelings, or at least understand them."

Hood's expression deepened into an angry glare for the briefest of moments before softening as the silence between the two ships extended, "I can see your point." She relented finally.

"We've all got our issues from the war and it may seem like a terrible idea but that girl was fucking terrified when Cumberland put on even the slightest irritated tone." Edinburgh continued

Hood took a pause to consider her words and added a disarming smile, "Destroyers usually bounce back rather quickly, I'm certain she'll be fine in the end."

Edinburgh shrugged again, still avoiding the battlecruiser's gaze, "honestly Hood, I'd just like to make sure she's okay. I think it may be old Scharnhorst's fault for making me want this but I can't help but feel protective of the poor girl."

Hood frowned and let out a sigh "If nothing else I'll get to see you try to wrangle glowworm," she noted nonchalauntly, "I'll strongly consider your proposal.

"Oh." Edinburgh muttered, finally making eye contact with Hood, her expression conveying uncertainty. "Glowworm."

A predatory uptick at the corners of Hood's mouth indicated that the capital ship had taken note of Edinburgh's reluctance, "Glowworm is one of her squadron mates ever since we broke up the her squadron." The battlecruiser clarified, "I'll tell you what, for the next week, we'll have you put there in a trial position, if you don't mess up,and considernsfer application approved.

"Oh." Edinburgh muttered dryly before a small but unsure smile formed on the corners of her mouth, "that's great to hear, thank you."

"Now." Hood replied enthusiastically, ignoring or more likely enjoying Edinburgh's unease, "if there's nothing else, I believe our business here is settled for the time being, of you weren't aware the mountain of paperwork I have is always increasing."

Edinburgh shook her head. "That was all ma'am"

"Right," Hood muttered,now once again completely engrossed in her paperwork. Glancing up at the cruiser, she offered a shooting motion to demonstrate to the cruiser that she was done, "off you go than."

Edinburgh stood up and made her way to the door, still holding her faint unsure smile.

"Oh." The older ship interrupted as soon as Edinburgh grasped the handle on the thick oak entrance, "do me a favor and tell Rodney not to nurse her hangover at the docks. It a terrible influence on the more impressionable girls."

Edinburgh looked briefly surprised "I'll get to that," she muttered with an offered nod, before turning again and heading out the door.


	7. Chapter 7: England Expects

Edinburgh threw herself down on the red cushioned chair with an audible thump, her raccoon lidded eyes shooting a look of mild frustration at Hood. Her efforts were returned in kind by the battlecruiser's usual look of blank politeness as Hood sat attentively behind her desk, framed by an open window bearing a view of the channel waters that was partially obscured by a faint rain.

The downpour seemed to offer an atmosphere that complimented the office well through the many shelves of books and victorian baubles and the great many paintings of ships at sea. In the center, behind her grand desk and with the view to her back, Hood invoked the image of a captain from the days of sail, stuck in rough waters.

"I trust the training is going well." the woman began, looking up from her near constant pile paperwork with a dissatisfied look before sliding it to the side of her desk. "I hear Glowworm has finally managed to pick up a few tricks for combating submarines and didn't forget them the next day."

Edinburgh shrugged. "There's always more to learn," she offered in a tired Scottish drawl. "Especially for that girl."

"Glowworm has been a bit troublesome, since her arrival," the flagship interjected with agreement, "But from what I've heard you've been working her and the rest of the squadron quite hard."

"An ounce of sweat." Edinburgh muttered tersely. "But I'll get them in 'tip top shape.'" she muttered, putting on a slight impression of Hood that was barely evident through the fatigue.

Hood laughed quietly, idly flipping her pen in her fingers, "I'm not here to tell you how to manage your squadron. In fact I must confess you've impressed me with you dillegance." Her mirth faded again into a polite expression, "but this also isn't a regular check in, I know we're both too busy for me to ask you to do that." Hood pulled a folder out from the pile on her desk and passed it to the light cruiser, "I'm sure you'll appreciate how overstretched our situation with the convoys is."

Edinburgh shook her head as the statement's implications became clear and her frustrated fatigue began to ebb into worry. "I'd like more training time. Ardent is still too unsure of herself when anything bigger than a destroyer shows up. Glowworm is if anything far too sure of herself and is just now figuring out that she even has depth charge launchers."

Hood sighed, "I don't disagree with your based on what I've seen, but the pair of them have gotten more training than many of our girls out there now did."

Edinburgh slouched slightly and let out a tired sigh mirroring Hood's "I get the sense this is more an order than a consultation."

Hood stood quietly, turning out her window to gaze over the ports of Scapa Flow. "You know as well as I do that time is not a luxury any of us have now," she muttered dourly.

Edinburgh gave an uneasy look at Hood before finally accepting the documents offered to her earlier, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she muttered, idly flipping through the pages within the manilla folder before a dark expression formed on her face and she shot an accusing glare to Hood. "You're sending a squadron where three quarters of the ships fought the jerries in Norway-," she began indignantly before being cut off.

"The Germans." Hood corrected tersely, a hint of annoyance in her tone. "Come now Edinburgh, they're our allies now."

The cruiser's angered deepened and she slammed the folder on the desk, sending aerial recon photos and shipping manifests sprawling out across the desk. "Germans, or Jerries, two of my girls died there Hood."

Hood's rain streaked reflection betrayed the slight amused grin that formed if the far corner of her mouth.

"This isn't bloody funny Hood."

"Apologies." Hood soothed, returning her direct attention to the light cruiser, "I just wasn't expecting you to call the squadron 'your girls' after a fortnight of training."

"Hood." The cruiser admonished tersely.

Hood gave Edinburgh an empathetic look and amusement fell of her face, "I'd like to say this is some sort of test to showcase responsibility of your squadron and ability to keep them and yourself cool under pressure or an exercise to help the lot of you confront your past. But truthfully we're just too stretched to do anything about it."

"Have us switch with someone else than." Edinburgh offered, "we'll take another patrol route."

Hood sighed, "You know as well as I do that transport to the mainland is done through that bloody tunnel and the Mediterranean is managed by the Italians."

"What about the trans-Atlantic route?" the cruiser suggested, "none of my girls had issue working with the yanks.

"And send Zubian to open waters? Come now, if we're brutally honest, -and I think in this war we have to be- the girl is competent enough at sinking submarines but she's woefully outdated. Besides- I'm reluctant to take the lot of you outside of friendly air cover until you've a bit more experience between you."

Edinburgh's expression faded quietly into defeat. "I still think this is a bad first operation for Ardent and a recipe for disaster if Glowworm meets the Jerries."

"Germans" Hood corrected again, much to Edinburgh's visible annoyance before reaching down to take an idle sip of tea from a cup on her desk. "Besides you're being sent to Sweden, not Norway and you won't be meeting with the Germans." The battlecruiser reached into the pile of spilled documents before finding one and sliding it towards Edinburgh, "You'll be escorting three supply ships until you reach Jutland. When you get there you'll meet up with HSwMS Clas Fleming, Ehrensköld, and Puke, who will relieve you of your duties and let you sail back to England."

Edinburgh shot Hood a confused look, prompting the battlecruiser to let out an audible disappointed sigh, "they're Swedish, Edinburgh."

"I'm aware." Edinburgh answered, her offended tone unmasked by her traditional accent. "I'm just wondering why you'd bother switching escorts if we're dropping them off so close to their own waters."

"It shortens your trip and their girls are more adjusted to Swedish waters." Hood explained, before taking another quiet drink, "Though truthfully Svergie is loathe to commit her girls out too far past their borders, they're not the most modern ships." Hood pushed what was left of the folder back to Edinburgh.

"Neither is Zubian." Edinburgh countered, deliberately ignoring the hint that the folder offered, "Not to mention she was bloody bisected."

Hood took another sip of tea, "But unlike the near entirety of the Swedish Navy and a depressing portion of our own, she has personal experience in anti-submarine warfare. That girl is more capable than you give her credit for."

Edinburgh nodded with quiet admittance, "She's a bit out there but if I'm honest, she's the one I'm worried least about sending out."

"Well, chin up." The flagship encouraged, "You've got a week's time to get your lessons finished up. Maybe you can use that time to finally convince Glowworm that she's not a battlecruiser."

Edinburgh looked clearly unhappy, "I'll do what I can," she muttered, standing up and gathering all of the paperwork she had catapulted earlier.

"England expects every man to do his duty." Hood offered half in melancholic jest. "If you need anything my office door is always open."

Edinburgh said nothing, instead she tucked her paperwork under her arm and offered a lazy half salute and turned before absconding from the office.

 _I'd like to apologise with how long this chapter took, for whatever reason I was never happy with the chapters I penned up, this is in fact the fourth iteration of this section. Rest assured most of the next chapter is finished and I will still be updating gwf, quite soon._


	8. Chapter 8

_The sea was black and palid. It's calm waters seemed to grab at Ardent's feet and propellers, the impossibly thick ocean waters danced lightly against her hull but slowed any effort to retreat to an agonizing crawl._

 _More power, she though, straining her boilers even harder, instinctively aware she was pushing herself far more than she had any right to and well into her breaking point._

 _Her crew gave no reports but Ardent could feel the tension and fear, mirrored by her own rising panic as the faint pounding of naval rifles sounded behind her._

 _She dared not look back, she wasn't even sure if she were capable of doing so, she just shifted her rudder right, feeling it turn only slowly and with immense effort as the water resisted her efforts to dodge the shells._

 _They impacted closer and faster than the last batch had and Ardent bit back her fear as she felt a wild panic rising in her chest._

 _She shifted her rudder left, feeling herself drift heavily to the right still further her change in course taking an agonizingly long period of time._

 _She could feel them behind her now, menacing shapes dancing outside her peripheral vision, a second barrage sounded. A great roar of an unseen beast that promised only death._

 _Splashes even closer, reaching even further this time._

 _The panic begin to flow forward. Ardent could feel her heart sink and her chest tighten. Desperation growing, she stopped her attempts at evasive action, pushing herself forward, still slowed to a crawl by the accursed waters she found herself sailing in. The destroyer mentally pushed herself beyond flank speed but saw no measurable improvement, the distance between her and her foe refused to shrink._

 _The rifles sounded, once again closer, she could hear the sounds of shells whizzing by, something grazed her shoulder and she turned about in wild irregular movements, desperately trying to mess up her foe's solution._

 _Impact. A heavy hit slamming hm just below her bridge_.

Ardent whirled around, bringing her torpedoes and guns in a ready position, eyes wildly scanning for the source of the danger, her faeries and lookouts sounding a wild and chaotic general quarters.

"Whoa!" a voice started in a surprised and worried tone. "Easy there lass." the owner assuaged, lifting her hand off of the destroyer's shoulder.

Ardent blinked and refocusing her rain soaked vision through the biting dark. Edinburgh stood before her, hands held in a placating manner, a confused and concerned expression on face rain soaked face.

Ardent lowered her guns and diverted her attention to guiltily staring at the pitched Atlantic waves, "Sorry," the destroyer offered quietly. "I was kind of zoning out there."

The cruiser offered a concerned smile, "Everything all right Ardent? You're looking a little-" Edinburgh stalled and mentally searched her limited vocabulary of polite phrases, "a little like someone shit in yer cereal this morning," she finished after a moment, clearly giving up on her search.

A thin smile of amusement formed on the corner of Ardent's mouth. "I'm fine." She offered.

"Are you sure?" The cruiser offered, "you weren't answering my hails and you did just point those torpedoes at me."

As if helping to avoid the question, a particularly heavy wave crashed over Ardent's bow, pitching her partially underwater. When she surfaced, hacking and spitting, she cast a tired look towards Edinburgh. "Crew is just a bit under the weather," she muttered dourly, avoiding Edinburgh's gaze

Edinburgh flicked a wet lock of her off her face and offered a grin to the destroyer, though Ardent couldn't tell if she was convinced by the answer. "It is a bit nippy out," she mocked in a fake English accent.

Ardent cast a rude look at the cruiser that flashed back towards the two container ships the group escorted, "just because everyone else in the convoy doesn't get tossed about because you're so big and heavy doesn't mean it's not shitty out."

Edinburgh laughed, "fair enough lass," she admitted, "but the girls up front don't bellyache nearly as much."

"Those two idiots are either too belligerent or too optimistic to bring it up. "Ardent scoffed and returned her gaze to the cruiser. "You apparently had a message for me though."

The Town class offered a noncommittal shrug, "just an hourly check in. There were a few requests to pull formation closer but you complied with all those as I asked. I guess you fairies saw to it, they can be weird like that."

Ardent said nothing, just flashed another half smile in response and looked out into the rain soaked night.

"You don't need to be so dour." Edinburgh offered, attempting to placate the destroyer with a comforting headrub but instead the girls rain soaked hat on to her head and rustling it against her scalp. "In just under an hour we'll be passing off the convoy to the Swedes and make it home for a hot dinner and some tea by the fire."

"I'm not dour, I'm damp! This stupid exposed bridge" Ardent muttered disdainfully, while attempting to fix her sodden sailor cap. "It makes everything so much more miserable. Stupid submarine spotting."

Edinburgh smiled, though had little mirth, glancing into the distant storm, allowing a silence to build between the two beneath the crashing waves and roaring winds. The distant sound of thunder echoed from far ahead of the convoy, intermittent bursts of deep booms.

Grabbing her hat firmly as another wave roared over her bow Ardent continued to push her bow through the water. Steadying herself. The destroyer joined Edinburgh in staring into the night, her misery fading to quiet thought.

The two spent some time letting the quiet grow between them before the smaller of them spoke up. "Hey Edinburgh." Ardent began quietly, avoiding the Cruiser's gaze "The enemy- the abyssals, they're ships like us too." Ardent looked uncertainty, "they're from the war."

Edinburgh gaze a quizzical look before nodding in affirmation, "some of them, yeah, why?"

Ardent's unease grew, distress nakedly apparent on her face, "have you ever seen someone you knew? Someone on our side?"

The cruiser suddenly found the dark waves particularly enthralling, "not anyone I was exceptionally close to, no. I was there when we cornered and put down what was left of Force Z," she muttered quietly before noting the worried uncertainty the destroyer offered at the mention of the task Force's name. "It was Prince of Wales and Repulse, apparently the two of them and their escorts got tired of being cut up by fishermen for scrap."

Ardent's sadness deepened.

"We sent them off though with the help of Akagi and her air group." She scoffed in derision "not in time to save the vultures but if you ask me that's two wins in one day." Glancing back at the unease steadily forming on Ardent's face, Edinburgh brought herself to eye level, placing a comforting arm on Ardent's shoulder. "this is about Acasta and Glorious isn't it?" she asked quietly.

Ardent's distress became abundantly clear even if the rain streaked on her face worked to help hide the evidence. After a lengthy pause, she let out a quick and quiet nod, her gaze still transfixed away from Edinburgh.

Edinburgh offered a disarming smile and rubbed the soaked hat onto her charge's head again, "Hey, if you got the right flag flying on your mast, I'm sure the pair of them will be more than happy to fly it with you, girls who fought together tend to show up on the same side."

Ardent didn't bother shooting an angry glare or adjusting her cap, instead she gazed onwards letting shoulders dropped slightly on relief and received an encouraging slap on the back from the squadron leader.

The thunder boomed again, a deep rolling series of booms.

"I'm sure we'll all come around eventually."

"I hope so," Ardent agreed quietly.

Her signal officer suddenly demanded Ardent's attention. The fairy waved a tiny ticker tape message about it's head with alarm.

"What's the problem?" the A class asked internally.

The voice let out a series of rapid fire panicked squeaks.

"Oh." Ardent began softly. "That is a problem."

"Ardent." Edinburgh called, "change of plans, the Swedes can't make it. We've got a fast cruiser force pushing down from the North, dropped right on them front the storm and forced them back on the road to Stockholm."

"So I heard. It sounds like we're outmatched "Is it back to England for us?"

Edinburgh cast an annoyed look at the ponderous container ship ahead of them. "I'm not sure we're fast enough to outrun a cruiser force, unless we beach the crew and ditch the cargo."

Ardent nodded solemnly.

"Well, I guess we'll see who's listening." the Town class muttered dryly, pulling a headset it from the mysterious depths of her rigging and setting it onto her head. "All stations, all stations, this is HMS Edinburgh, we've got a bit of a problem with some cruisers pushing on us from Jutland, we could use some bloody firepower."

Ardent waited trepidatiously.

A scowl began to form on the cruiser's face. "All stati-" Edinburgh began before suddenly stopping and shooting an incomprehensible look at Ardent. "Right, give me a second to get put bearings straightened out."

"Is someone coming?" Ardent asked nervously. As her senior began penning down coordinates and offering instructions to her communications officer.

"Well shit is fucked, but someone is coming," the cruiser admitted, not skipping a beat from her work, "I

t just will probably be a bit."

"How long?"

"Probably a few hours, the Germans love to faff about planning stuff."

"Germans." Arden echoed quietly.

Edinburgh glanced up, awareness and concern taking root I equal measure on her expression, "Is that going to be a problem?" she asked quietly.

The destroyer scowled, "I won't shoot first if that's what you're asking."

Edinburgh let out a short sigh and shrugged, "fine. I can work with that." she granted, before penning a late message for her radio operator. "I've got to check in on the others. I could radio them, but I'd like to make sure they're doing okay, I'll be back in a tad."

Ardent nodded tersely before Edinburgh offered a last disarming smile, "relax Ardent, this isn't 1940, we'll be away in no time"

Ardent offered another weak nod before the cruiser pulled out into the rain soaked night, leaving her only visible companionship to be the massive twin container ships.

Another series of deep rolling booms sounded in the distance, though through the dense night sky Ardent could make out faint flashes of light, signaling the distant discharging of naval rifles.


	9. Chapter 9: The Calm

"Fucking shit!" a voice called out in frustration as the sounds of hollow plastic bounces echoed through the room's walls.

The room was spartan in its furnishings. The drab concrete walls and dull yellow tile floor went unconcealed save for the steel and plastic chairs that accompanied the rest of the 1980s rec-room furnishings. The outdated appearance was hardly a deliberate choice however and served instead to identify just how out of date the facility was.

A dull rapping echo of wood striking plastic in rhythmic patterns sounded before the treacherous sound of plastic bouncing echoed once again.

"God fucking damn it!" The voice returned again, reaching down to grab the runaway plastic ball. "stupid Germans."

"What do the Germans have to do with you being bad at table tennis?" Asked the girl on the other side of the table, her smile indicating that the question was more intended to irritate her sister than an actual effort to get an answer.

"Shut up Hailey!" the first voice growled indignantly. "The only reason I'm still playing this stupid game is because the Krauts can't be bothered to put in some real entertainment."

Hailey spun her paddle idly and offered an amused grin, "If you let 'lanta catch you calling them that when we get stateside, she'll whip you good." the Fletcher class admonished mockingly.

The first girl shot a glare at Hailey, before turning around and tossing her paddle to a third. The paddle landed straight onto the thied girl and knocked the book she was holding right out of her hands. "I'm tagging in Fran, this game is dumb." Haggard muttered disdainfully before planting herself on a chair next to Franks.

Franks glanced between her two sisters, holding the paddle in her hands dumbfounded,. The book she had previously been absorbed in now rested in a heap halfway across the room.

"Come on Haggard," mocked Hailey again, crossing her arms smugly. "Don't be such a spoilsport, if you want to concede to me that I'm better at table tennis, that's fine."

Haggard's eyes narrowed from her seat, "I'm not conceding, I just know Franks is going to kick your ass!"

Hailey laughed and brought her finger up in preparation of a rebuttal when the unmistakable buzz of an alarm went off, followed by a repeated phrase in a tinny German voice from the corner loudspeaker.

"Well, look at that- it's game," Haggard admitted with a disappointed tone that oozed insincerity. "I guess we have to go help our kraut friends go push the monsters back." the destroyer stood up quickly and grabbed Franks by the wrist and pulling her sister up with an alarmed squeal.

Hailey sighed and looked unconvinced, "If they wanted our help, don't you think they would have asked in English?" she reasoned, "it's probably just a drill."

The rogue destroyer could not be bowed however and pulled her sisters, one physically and one through a reluctant need to be included, out into the hallways. Once outside, she spared a glance down either end of the hallway to determine where the action was. Down other ends however there appeared to be little worry as the human personnel wandered mostly unperplexed by the alert.

Identifying the nearest individual who looked like they didn't hold enough rank to cause her future headache, Haggard gave the man's sleeve a sharp tug, pulling him aside. Indifferent to the pile of paperwork the sailr dropped with her aggressive pull the she gave a dramatic indication towards the intercom. "What's that?" the destroyer asked curtly.

Collecting his wits following the swiftness of the maneuver, the sailor turned his attention to Haggard and began to slowly process the question. "They are calling the Bootsmädchen to the docks." the man replied in broken and heavily accented English, clearly taken aback by the sudden interrogation.

"For what?" Hailey asked from behind, in a slightly more polite tone of voice.

The sailor shook his head, "they do not tell us." the man gave a sudden point down the hallway, "it would be over there."

The man tumbled onto the floor and into the pile of manilla envelopes and loose papers once Haggard had her direction. The destroyer quickly took the instructions to heart and launched herself down the hall at speed, heedless of the protests of her sisters. She was halted soon after when, passing by a corner at high speed, she managed to clip an oncoming pedestrian, sending the destroyer sprawling dramatically and cracking the dated tile floor.

Rolling over with a groan of protest, Haggard's complaints quickly died in her throat. Looming above her, arms crossed and with an irate expression, was the silhouette of a large German cruiser. The black Navy raincoat, peaked cap, and angry look seemed to mix seamlessly with German stereotypes enough to give Haggard pause.

"What are you doing running about and getting in our way at at time like this." The woman asked in softly accented English, the challenge being backed up by a pair of destroyers which moved up to her flanks and seemed to emulate the cruiser's pose and expression seamlessly.

Haggard whimpered slightly, searching for a reply. The German's scorn only grew.

"We're here to help!" Franks suddenly interjected, surprising herself and her sisters more than the assembled Germans. "It's- it's the right thing to do." she added meekly when she realized her outburst had attracted the attention of everyone assembled.

The cruiser gave a confused look to the destroyer but simply shook her head, "we have more than enough escort vessels, thank you." the woman finished, turning to walk around Haggard and continue her course.

Hailey's approving glance shifted to the retreating cruiser, "it's dark and stormy still right?" she interjected to the Germans "Very hard to see."

The cruise and her escorts turned again, now clearly interested.

"We have radar, best in to the world, even by late war standards," Hailey added with no shortage of pride. "We can help," she added sparing a glance to the sister of hers that still stood.

The cruiser appeared to ponder the question before nodding. "That makes sense." She added with curt understanding, "Z-4 will brief you on the way. Move fast though, we're dangerously short on time and Tirpitz is already waiting on us."

=XxXxX=

Ardent nervously eyed the distant lights mushrooming throughout the dark downpour, illuminating the silhouettes of the transports before her. A shiver, due as much to fear as the biting cold of the thick Atlantic chill, overtook her.

The destroyer nervously keyed her mic, scanning the inky horizon for additional signs of battle. "Edinburgh?" she nervously whispered through her headset, "someone is shooting out there."

The night was quiet and the destroyer nearly keyed her headset to report again when Edinburgh's calming voice came through a second time, "easy now lass. They're not shooting at us. The bastards are still miles off."

Ardent nodded but remained tense, refusing to drop her guard.

"Who are they shooting at?" The familiar voice of Glowworm interjected suddenly on the same channel.

"They broke a cruiser off to drive the Swedes back to harbor." Edinburgh responded tonelessly. "No casualties reported but their girls are too outgunned to push up and help us."

"So it's up the Jerry." Glowworm muttered, her bitter tone obvious even through the distorted radio traffic, "I never thought I'd be sitting in the North Atlantic praying for German battleships to arrive."

A half nervous smile flickered over Ardent's expression following the comment. The limited joy was brief however. As soon as the comms went quiet and she was faced with her loneliness, the world seemed to become enveloped by night. Ardent's crew huddled their watch position, joining the girl's own steel eyed gaze with tiny binoculars and dozens of eyes gazing into the night for any sign of threat, her lack of sensors making the effort a tense affair.

The girl continued scanning as the minutes ticked by, the biting cold and rain that seemed to steal all of her attention from early efforts seemed lost among the uncertain terror of the night. With each minute passing the girl's fear and attention grew, staring into night as imagined phantoms moved to strike just outside her vision, blocked by rain or hiding just between the great crests of the Atlantic squall.

As if to snap her out of her trance, a rogue wave kicked itself suddenly over her hull, staggering her backwards and throwing her rain soaked cap from her head, but the girl hardly acknowledged it, righting herself quickly. Rubbing the bitter seawater out of her eyes, she gave a quick glance about for the enemy before turning her attention inwards for the first time since her watch began "Is everyone okay?" She asked her crew in the quietest of whispers. "No one fell overboard?"

The tiny squeals of acknowledgement scarcely sounded and yet seemed deafening in the midst of the threatening unknown. Satisfied that her crew were unhurt, she hoisted her binoculars up again, vainly watching the waves as the minutes blurred together and time seemed the stretch onwards into hours.

"I think I've got them." Edinburgh interrupted, the sudden noise of a radio transmission nearly causing Ardent to jump. "Bearing three-two-four. Speed and composition is near impossible to say in the weather with all this noise. Distance is-" the light cruiser hesitated, "distance is about two miles out."

Ardent swallowed, eyeing again the inky blackness with impending dread. Her crew now hung on to her deck guns expectantly.

"It looking like they're holding their distance." Edinburgh updated.

"Why aren't they shooting?" Glowworm called out in worried frustration, "It always bad news when Abyssals start fighting weird."

"Stay calm girls, the Jerries are on the way." Replied the soothing voice of the section's light cruiser. "How are you holding up Ardent?"

It took Ardent keying to mic and getting ready to reply to realize the voice came from next to her. The destroyer spun around quickly to address the question purveyor directly. "Fine ma'am." She stammered out, her nervousness apparent, "just trying to spot the bastards."

Edinburgh's gaze seemed locked on a particular point in the blackness, her array of guns quietly following her eyes. "I don't think they can see us," she muttered quietly, "It's possible they lack radar, which would be a hell of a boon."

"What about the Swedes?" The destroyer asked in worry, "didn't they spot them?"

Edinburgh shrugged. "Maybe. The Swedes didn't lose anyone though. As long as it stays dark we can play for time. I just got a ring from Tirpitz and the Jerries have launched." Reaching down, the cruiser gave Ardent a protective pat on the head and managed to spare a worried glance down at the destroyer. "Where'd your hat go?"

"A wave took it," Ardent muttered, surprised and slightly embarrassed by the question.

"Pity." The cruiser responded, wistfully returning to eyeing the same spot in the night, "It was a good hat, but I guess we can get you a new one."

The pair continued staring into the night for several more minutes before Ardent felt Edinburgh ruffle her damp hair again and looked up to see the cruiser offering a comforting smile. "I'm going to go check with poor Zubian, the girl is pretty nervous over all of this," Edinburgh announced quietly

Ardent opened her mouth to say something, but the thought became lost in the crashing waves.

"Tighten your formation with Glowworm and make sure to keep yourself between the enemy and the transports." Edinburgh offered, "I'll be back in fifteen minutes to check up on you. Don't fire unless you're fired upon or if you're sure they've spotted you."

"Right." Ardent affirmed, trying to stick a modicum of self-confidence in her voice.

"And remember," the cruiser added, "Jerry will be here in under an hour, we've just got to hold until then."

Ardent nodded, though worry still clouded her expression.

"I'll see you in fifteen." Edinburgh reiterated before kicking her engines forwards again, drifting steadily into the stormy blackness.

And with that Ardent was alone again, save for the unseen foes and those friends of hers hidden by the storm. The minutes continued to tick down as she returned to her lone vigil, steadily eyeing the night. Time seemed stretched by her solitude and she quickly lost track of how long Edinburgh had been gone.

A half seen shape suddenly appeared in the corner of her eye, before suddenly disappearing into the sea. Whirling about to face it, Ardent froze, staring down the now empty ocean where the phantom shape had appeared. Not even a wake could be seen amongst the black and rolling waves.

She drew her weapons up, scanning now with turrets in hand and torpedoes twisting into firing position on their thigh mounted pintles. "Did anyone see that?" She whispered to her crew, fear creeping into her voice.

The chorus of squeaks that followed were all in the negative.

Ardent waited, seconds bleeding into minutes that felt to bleed into hours, her heart racing with anticipation.

After what felt like hours she felt a sudden grab on her shoulder. Twisting around, her eyes wide in terror, the A-Class brought her armamnet to bear on her unseen opponent.

Facing down the destroyer's array of weapons, Edinburgh gently pushed a wrist mounted 4.7 inch gun from her face. "Easy now lass." the cruiser gently admonished, eliciting an embarrassed look from the destroyer. "What's got you all spoked?"

Ardent hesitated briefly before she gestured in the direction of the phantom, "I thought I saw something out there, but my lookouts missed it." the destroyer mumbled sheepishly. "I think I'm just getting too worried."

Edinburgh appeared unconvinced, glancing uneasily at the spot Ardent had indicated. "Glowworm," She asked, keying up the mic. "Do you have anything on sonar?"

"Nothing beyond what we know is out there." The G Class responded with a twinge of frustration. "The sea is pretty fucking loud between all of us."

The answer did little to appease Edinburgh's agitation.

"I might have just been seeing things." Ardent reasoned nervously, "my lookouts all missed it after all."

"I just don't like the way they're all sitting there waiting for something," the Town class muttered idly. "they've got to know they're not going to get to us if they sit pretty like that."

Ardent nodded.

A squeak sounded, drawing Ardent's attention. The alarmed tone of her fairy lookout conveying immediate danger. Raising her binoculars the girl scanned the water's surface watching for the noticed threat. It took several seconds of frantic searching before she stumbled across a shape in the water, sitting near 100 meters behind her, right between her and the transports.

As the shape came into better focus, Ardent's heart sunk. The blood red eyes betrayed a twisted grin even beneath the breath mask the unnaturally pale Abyssal wore. Lifting an unseen rigging component in the air, the woman let loose a single projectile, a lazy trail of lights that sparked directly upwards in a slow and hateful trail.

"Submarine!" Ardent called, raising her guns to sink the Abyssal as the flare exploded above the convoy, showering the group in bright light.

The destroyer got only a single round off before a titanic explosion ruptured from the hull of the nearest transport, knocking the girls aim off as debris and burning oil flew outwards in a well timed attack.

Ardent hardly had time to recover her footing before the night erupted into madness.


	10. Chapter 10: The Storm

Edinburgh was the first to return accurate fire, swiftly turning her turrets towards the nearest flash of light. Her guns let out a hateful roar just a fraction of a second after they finished their spin. Her secondaries soon joined the cacophony, the zipping amber of outgoing tracers following the shapes of beings that danced in the night around the convoy.

A series of near misses bracketed the sea next to Ardent, showering her already soaked body with cold seawater. The girl screamed in terror, clutching her turrets protectively to her chest. All around her the continued fall of shells churned up the sea. The burning sheet of oil that leaked from the swiftly dying container ship poured from the ocean like the blood of some hellish monster, silhouetting Ardent and giving the abyssals a target.

"Glowworm. Zubian." Edinburgh tersely began, refusing to draw her attention away from her current target, a jet black lovecraftian horror sporting a wide variety of casements and turrets over its body. "Fall back to us, we're going to make a fighting retreat to the east."

Any replies the girls made was drowned out in the monster's gurgling roar as the beast lunged out of the water, its hellish form thrusting forwards, freezing Ardent in place.

"Ardent." Edinburgh cried, zipping tracers of her anti-aircraft weapons scouring the monster's flanks for any sign of a vulnerable area they could find. "We've got too many baddies here for you to freeze up. Pick one that's smaller and kill it."

Ardent swallowed, attempting to drive down the fear the shapes dancing on the edge of the fire instilled in her. Drawing a hesitant bead on a smaller shadow she harshly squeezed on the tiggers of her 4.7 inch turret, sending a blossom of fire and a salvo of shells into the dancing shadows. As Ardent began to take charge, so too did her faeries and deep within her rigging shells began to pass into her guns at a rapid pace and lookouts began rapidly squeaking targets to her and the gun crew.

The shapes continued, the larger ones, dancing in the night on the edges of the ruined ship just out of torpedo range, taking range on the British ships within the flames. The smaller of the abyssals, hateful fishlike horrors with strange and illogical weapons sticking out of their bodies began to push into the fire's perimeter, occasionally letting out rogue shots with their destroyer sized weaponry.

A sudden salvo erupted to Ardent's left, revealing the positions of her fellow destroyers as the two girls made their fighting retreat, stopping just ahead of her and Edinburgh.

The cruiser did little to acknowledge the arrival of the two new girls, already bearing the brunt of the Abyssal fire and doing her best to offer her own response in turn. "Zubian, Glowworm." Edinburgh tersely cut in her words shaken slightly as a shell bounced off her shoulder, "help Ardent keep them out of torpedo range."

"What about the big boys?" Glowworm asked, squeezing off a volley.

Several more small caliber shells impacted Edinburgh's torso, causing a pained string of muttered curses. "I'll keep them busy until Jerry saves our arses."

Beneath the glare of the battle, Glowworm's expression darkened, though she made no audible complaint. The girl's attention was quickly diverted by the shape of a sickly looking abyssal destroyer making a torpedo run and she sent off a salvo of shells to answer its probing.

As if angered by Glowworm's destruction of their comrade a second destroyer pushed forwards, letting out a shrill and unearthly howl as it quickly pushed past the shredded giblets of the first. A small pack of similar beasts following the apparent pack leader.

"Ardent! They're rushing!" Glowworm shouted, squeezing off rapid fire rounds the meet the surging mob.

Ardent swing around, nervously eyeing the incoming inhuman mass of bodies and suppressing a shudder. She raised her weapon, bringing the lead ship into the gunsight mounted on her pistol gripped turret.

"Watch out!" The familiar voice of Zubian interrupted, signaling too late an incoming barrage that impacted Ardent's upper hull and bridge, sending the A-Class staggering shortly backwards and leaving her mentally reeling. A second shell struck the ship that issued the warning, striking Zubian in the upper arm and sending her a half step backwards.

Ardent had only briefly registered the feeling of a second set of rounds exploding before she dropped to one knee, her ears ringing and her vision pulsing. She attempted an uneasy step upwards, steadying herself on her feet only momentarily before searing pain in her legs forced her downwards with a muffled scream.

"Ardent is hit!" Zubian cried despite her own injury, her alarmed. words carrying over the battle.

"Shite." muttered Edinburgh her gaze still unwavering from the fleet assembled ahead of her, "how bad?"

"Bad." Zubian returned, ducking shells to make her way to the girl in question.

A shriek of incoming shells caused the cruiser to instinctively hold her arm before her face. An explosion erupted from an impact on her forearm, sending her staggering back with a pained curse.

Her arm left limp and bleeding Edinburgh raised her good hand to respond in kind, her remaining turrets barking off in rapid succession. "Glowworm. Take Ardent and Zubian push east until you hit land or you hit the ocean's bottom."

Glowworm broke from tracking targets to give the cruiser a desperate and worried look, "But-" she began quietly.

"I'll take the rear." Edinburgh assuaged, "I'll be right behind."

"If you try and be a hero or some shite I'll come back and kill you myself." Glowworm screamed at the cruiser. She turned to Zubian, .

Zubian ignored the tone, wrapping the wounded girl's arms around her shoulder and pulling Ardent up, causing the younger girl to gasp in pain. "We've got you." She muttered comfortingly. "Zubian's got you."

A shell impacted Edinburgh's bridge, causing her to reel slightly beneath the force of the round and eliciting a pained snarl out of the cruiser that she channeled against her charges. "Fucking get moving!" She screamed.

Zubian took off, accelerating through the still choppy waters with the battered form of Ardent hanging limply against her flank.

Glowworm began to steadily reverse behind the pair, throwing back the smaller horrors that pushed their way into the perimeter of flames with streams of cannon fire, doing her best to ignore the splashes that marked gunfire bracketing her position.

"Edinburgh, we need to go now." the destroyer announced, alarm creeping into her voice. "I'm not leaving you."

The cruiser said nothing, spitting a globule of blood into the still burning seas before quietly reversing, her one good eye following her still remaining arm as she tracked and dispatched targets, occasionally letting loose with her cannons.

With the weight of Ardent resting on her shoulder, Zubian's crew were doing their damndest to bring their ship's speed back up. Disabling safeties, overpressuring boilers and straining her to the breaking point. She glanced sympathetically at the limp form of Ardent, bloody and only half-conscious. The destroyer steadily felt heavier in Zubian's arms as her consciousness continued to slip. "It's okay Ardent," the tribal class offered between pained and labored breaths. "We made it through bad damage too. It's how we became us, just stay strong."

Ardent offered no response and Zubian took the time to nervously glance at the twin silhouettes illuminated by the flames to their rear. Their gunfire growing steadily quieter as Zubian's speed outpaced the rearguard's. "They'll be okay too Ardent, you'll see." She offered, more to comfort herself than the barrel cognizant destroyer in her arms.

A half mile ahead of her a great series of fireballs forced the darkness back briefly, followed a fraction of a second later by the deep boom of naval guns.

Zubian let out an undignified squeal of alarm, slowing herself so dramatically she nearly lost control of Ardent, the jostling causing her charge to let out a pained gasp.

A second deep mushrooming of explosions, larger and louder than the first pushed back the darkness again.

Ducking instrictively as shells screached over her head, Zubian gave an uncertain glance back to the twin silhouettes that held back the Abyssals to her rear.

The explosions sounded again, signifying a second bombardment, and causing Zubian to glance again at the unknown before her. As the fireballs faded, Zubian caught sight of a humanoid figure in peaked cap and standing cross armed with a raincoat billowing up behind from the force of the blast. The destroyer's face brightened. "It's the German's Ardent, we think it's the Germans." She happily explained to the girl hanging on her shoulder.

Zubian's kicked her speed up again, her screws churning up the stormy waters behind her. She glanced down at Ardent, her expression now growing worried again and attempted to wipe a rainsoaked patch of blood off of the A Class's forehead with her wounded arm. "Hey, stay with us Ardent. Don't you want to meet the Germans." She paused and considered that statement. "Maybe not," she rescinded with a worried grin, "but we want to see you meet the Germans, it'll be funny."

Ardent offered no rebuttal. Fading in and out of consciousness in the Tribal's arm.

Ignoring the squeaking protests of her engineers regarding the danger of a boiler explosion, Zubian only cut her speed when she could make out the definite shapes of a group of escorts approaching her. Two of them worre the distinctive sailor caps of Kriegsmarine, though the third bore little resemblance to the Germans, a US flag hanging off the girl's rigging, instead of a German one.

"Ardent's hurt." Zubian wheezed to the trio, exhaustion over her sprint finally catching up to her as she slowed to an unsteady stop.

"You're hurt as well," countered the nearest German, a blonde girl with 'Z23' written neatly on her Navy cap.

The American coasted to a slow stop next to the British pair, "I'll take her." she offered, concerned sympathy apparent in her voice and expression.

Zubian first responded with a protective and resistant glare before her expression softened and she quietly relented with an acquiescing nod. Gently using her good arm to assist the American in transferring Ardent off of her own shoulder and onto the Fletcher's.

It was only after Ardent's weight was pulled off of Zubian's shoulders that the destroyer's adrenaline wore out and the girl fell to her knees among to roaring Atlantic waves.


	11. Chapter 11: Twinsies

_The dark waves keeled about Ardent's hull, lapping softly against her feel. The dull cool splashes steadily awakening the destroyer, who rose with a groggy start._

 _She rubbed the sleep from her eyes tiredly before shooting them open dramatically and leaping with sudden vigor to her feet. Instinct sending her up and ready, she scanned the surroundings with wide panicked glances as her memories of her latest fight came rushing back._

 _She scanned the horizon, still visible in the distance. All around her a cold light kept the eerily still water visible for miles despite the lack of a moon to illuminate the sky._

" _Edinburgh!" Ardent called in a panicked whisper, holding her turret in shaking hands as she watched the night. "Zubian?" She added quietly. A long pregnant pause settled unnervingly over her surroundings "Hello?" she called apprehensively._

 _The night refused the answer and a deep choking panic began to rise in her throat. "He-hello?" She asked again, scarcely able to put out more than a whisper. "Please?"_

 _A quick moving shape caught the corner of her eye. And she whirled around bringing her turrets to bear but finding nothing._

 _She looked again. "Edinburgh!" She called again, allowing her voice to be louder._

 _As if to answer her callings, the water stopped, settling to a completely placid mirror like surface beneath her feet. "They're not here," a feminine voice answered in an exasperated tone. "Nobody is."_

 _Ardent whirled around again holding her guns to bear._

 _A figure stood, before her. She was roughly Ardent's own height and wearing a Royal Navy sailor cap on top of her short and neatly cropped red hair. On her back, a series of guns and turrets of similar make to the destroyer's own stood fixed at odd angles, bearing thick rust and decay. "Well nobody but us, I suppose." the figure offered with a tired sigh, glancing around the placid water._

 _A feeling of abject wrongness coupled with familiarity kept Ardent's guns trained but her fingers refrained from pulling the trigger. She , held it squarely at the head of the newcomer. "Who-?" She began._

" _Really Ardent?." The newcomer remarked with scorn, focusing again on the A Class. "Still holding that gun up like some sort of crucifix that'll ward off anybody that's trying to hurt you like a scared nun? Did you learn nothing from Narvik, from your little party on escort duty just now?" The figure approached, placing her forehead nealy against the muzzle of Ardent's gun, her gaze, confidently locked in Ardent's fear filled eyes._

 _Ardent's fear ebbed into a confused look directed at the newcomer, though she still refused to drop her gun. "Who are you?"_

 _A look of brief but genuine hurt flashed on the figures face, before it faded quickly into nonchalance. "I suppose it's to be expected that you forgot so much of yourself when they dragged you out again." The figure muttered, "I'm just surprised your own dear sister's face was among the memories dropped."_

 _The gun dropped before an incredulous stare."Acasta?" Ardent asked quietly stepping forwards. "is that you?"_

" _The one and only" Acasta answered. "I have missed you dear sister."_

 _Ardent continued her slow disbelieving steps until she reached her sister. "I-" she began, before lunging forwards for a hug, only to careen through the space of air her sister used to be, crashing dramatically into the flat waves and sending a protesting splash forwards. The droplets scattering above the surface like a mirror on a rainy day, the ripples frozen in place._

 _Ardent turned and glanced up in confusion, her sister returning a look of genuine sadness and pity. "I'm sorry dear sister. I have missed you so much too. But reunions will have to wait. Soon. Now that you've returned I can make my way to you. Help is on the way. I promise." Her sister offered a bright smile accompany the twinkling brightness of her blue eyes._

" _Help?" Ardent muttered in response, the words echoing beyond her unconscious._

"We already helped you." A dour voice muttered with a hint of sulking, "stop complaining and making us feel bad."

Ardent's heavy lidded eyes blinked at the bright light suddenly flooding over her "What?" she asked weakly.

"Ardent!" The familiar voice of Zubian called loudly, causing the waking destroyer to flinch in response. Blinking the rest from her eyes, Ardent rose with a pained grunt and glanced around the room in confusion. "Where-?" She muttered with a hoarse whisper.

The waves of the docks lapped steadily around her hull. The dull white tiled walls of the large room, reminded Ardent vaguely of the dockyards in England, though her current settings are noticeably less grandiose. The only occupants currently seemed to be her Zubian, before her gaze settled on another girl. A brunette of similar build to Glowworm sat idly on a wooden bench lining the all off Zubian's shoulder. Noticing Ardent's concious state and bewildered look, the girl flashed a genuine smile in Ardent's direction but said nothing.

"Did you see our eyepatch!?" Zubian called excitedly, pushing herself between Ardent and the new girl and pointing to a bandage around her eye with the only one of her arms not currently wrapped in a sling. "We look like a pirate!"

The A class recoiled at the sudden introduction because she offered a soft worried look to the Tribal. "Bloody hell Zubian, what happened?" Ardent asked with genuine worry, "last I remember-" she trailed off trying to piece the night before.

"You got shot." Zubian answered matter of factly.

"Of course I got shot," the A class retorted in an offended tone "but what happened to your eye?"

"Oh." Zubian remarked nonchalantly, "we got shot."

Ardent said nothing, shooting an annoyed glare that demanded the Tribal class continue.

"And then the Germans came and saved us." She pointed at the girl in the bench, "oh and Fran and her sisters too."

"Oh." Ardent muttered, turning towards the seated girl, "thank you. I apologize, it feels I can't thank you properly as my German isn't very good, but I really do appreciate the assistance."

The American girl laughed, "that's okay. It can't be worse than mine."

Ardent reddened noticeably and her eyes suddenly found the pool she sat in very interesting

"She's American!" Zubian declared excitedly, ignoring Ardent's embarrassment, "Super nice too!"

"DD five five four, USS Frank's." She remarked with a smile. "It's nice to meet you. I'm glad you're awake."

"That's a mouthful." Ardent muttered, "but yeah, thanks, I really do appreciate the help, even if my memory of the night is a bit fuzzy."

"You can just call me Franks," the destroyer corrected earnestly. "but anyways.

We were just doing our part, really. It's the German girls like Scharnhorst you should thank. She rode us harder and faster than. I thought possible to get there in time. She's pretty dedicated like that."

"Well I guess the that makes us even now." Ardent quietly muttered."

"Oh? Do you go back? Frank's asked with genuine curiosity. If she noticed the glare Ardent delivered at the water Frank's offered no sign and continued to happily smile at the british girl.

"Speaking of that fight." Ardent paused briefly, pondering again he events of the earlier fight "How are the others?" she asked quietly, turning towards Zubian. "I kind of blanked out after I got hit. Are they-?" She trailed off, her words getting caught nervously in her throat

For what may have been the first time since the pair met, Ardent noticed a trace of genuine sadness on Zubian's expression. "Not good." She quietly stated, before recovering her composure to make a half smile, "But they are alive. The Abyssals started to pull back shortly before the help arrived, just after we left."

Ardent frowned, "that seems odd." She flatly muttered. "A lucky break I suppose."

Zubian for her part seemed nonplussed and offered a one armed shrug. "Abyssals are odd."

"She's got you there." the American remarked in a jovial tone. "It's really hard to figure those things out."

Ardent made a noncommittal grunt and added nothing.


End file.
